5. Therefore, these men said, "We will not find any complaint against this Daniel, unless it is against the law of his God."
6. Then the leaders and governors took the king aside privately and spoke to him in this way: "King Darius, live forever.
7. All the leaders of your kingdom, the magistrates and governors, the senators and judges, have taken counsel that an imperial decree and edict should be published, so that all who ask any petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, will be cast into the den of lions.
8. Now, therefore, O king, confirm this judgment and write the decree, so that what is established by the Medes and Persians may not be altered, nor will any man be allowed to transgress it."
9. And so king Darius set forth the decree and established it.
10. Now when Daniel learned of this, namely, that the law had been established, he entered his house, and, opening the windows in his upper room towards Jerusalem, he knelt down three times a day, and he adored and gave thanks before his God, as he had been accustomed to do previously.
11. Therefore, these men, inquiring diligently, discovered that Daniel was praying and making supplication to his God.
12. And they approached and spoke to the king about the edict. "O king, did you not decree that every man who makes a request to any of the gods or men for thirty days, except to yourself, O king, would be cast into the den of lions?" To which the king replied, saying, "The sentence is true, and according to the decree of the Medes and Persians, it is not lawful to violate it."
13. Then they answered and said before the king, "Daniel, of the sons of the captivity of Judah, is not concerned about your law, nor about the decree that you have established, but three times a day he prays his supplication."
14. Now when the king had heard these words, he was greatly grieved, and, on behalf of Daniel, he set his heart to free him, and he labored even until sunset to rescue him.
15. But these men, knowing the king, said to him, "You know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is that every decree which the king has established may not be altered."
16. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. And the king said to Daniel, "Your God, whom you always serve, he himself will free you."