1   When King Astyages was gathered to his fathers he was succeeded on the throne by Cyrus the Persian. 2   Daniel was a confidant of the king, the most honoured of all the King's Friends.

3   Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, for which they provided every day twelve bushels of fine flour, forty sheep, and fifty gallons of wine. 4   The king held it to be divine and went daily to worship it, but Daniel worshipped his God. So the king said to him, ‘Why do you not worship Bel?’ 5   He replied, ‘Because I do not believe in man-made idols, but in the living God who created heaven and earth and is sovereign over all mankind.’ 6   The king said, ‘Do you think that Bel is not a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks each day?’ 7   Daniel laughed and said, ‘Do not be deceived, your majesty; this Bel of yours is only clay inside and bronze outside, and has never eaten anything.’

8   Then the king was angry, and summoned the priests of Bel and

The destruction of Bel said to them, ‘If you cannot tell me who it is that eats up all these provisions, you shall die; 9   but if you can show that it is Bel that eats them, then Daniel shall die for blasphemy against Bel.’ Daniel said to the king, ‘Let it be as you command.’ 10   (There were seventy priests of Bel, not counting their wives and children.) Then the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. 11   The priests said, ‘We are now going outside; set out the food yourself, your majesty, and mix the wine; then shut the door and seal it with your signet. 12   When you come back in the morning, if you do not find that Bel has eaten it all, let us be put to death; but if Daniel's charges against us turn out to be false, then he shall die.’ 13   They treated the whole affair with contempt, because they had made a hidden entrance under the table, and they regularly went in by it and ate everything up.

14   So when the priests had gone, the king set out the food for Bel; and Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes and sift them over the whole temple in the presence of the king alone. Then they left the temple, closed the door, sealed it with the king's signet, and went away. 15   During the night the priests, with their wives and children, came as usual and ate and drank everything. 16   Early in the morning the king came, and Daniel with him. 17   The king said, ‘Are the seals intact, Daniel?’ 18   He answered, ‘They are intact, your majesty.’ As soon as he opened the door, the king looked at the table and cried aloud, ‘Great art thou, O Bel! 19   In thee there is no deceit at all.’ But Daniel laughed and held back the king from going in. ‘Just look at the floor,’ he said, ‘and judge whose footprints these are.’ 20   The king said, ‘I see the footprints of men, women, and children.’ 21   In a rage he put the priests under arrest, with their wives and children. Then they showed him the secret doors through which they used to go in and consume what was on the table. 22   So the king put them to death, and handed Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed the idol and its temple.

The destruction of the snake

23   Now there was a huge snake, which the Babylonians held to be divine. 24   The king said to Daniel, ‘You cannot say that this is not a living god; so worship him.’ 25   Daniel answered, ‘I will worship the Lord my God, for he is the living God. 26   But give me authority,

The destruction of the snake your majesty, and without sword or staff I will kill the snake.’ 27   ‘I give it you’, said the king. So Daniel took pitch and fat and hair, boiled them together, and made them into cakes, which he put into the mouth of the snake. When the snake ate them, it burst. Then Daniel said, ‘See what things you worship!’ 28   When the Babylonians heard of this they gathered in an angry crowd to oppose the king. ‘The king has turned Jew!’ they cried. ‘He has pulled down Bel, killed the snake, and put the priests to the sword.’ 29   So they went to the king and said, ‘Hand Daniel over to us, or else we will kill you and your family.’ 30   The king, finding himself hard pressed, was compelled to give Daniel up to them. 31   They threw him into the lion-pit, and he was there for six days. 32   There were seven lions in the pit, and every day two men and two sheep were fed to them; but now they were given nothing, to make sure that they would devour Daniel.

33   Now the prophet Habakkuk was in Judaea; he had made a stew and crumbled bread into the bowl, and he was on the way to his field, carrying it to the reapers, 34   when an angel of the Lord said, ‘Habakkuk, carry the meal you have with you to Babylon, for Daniel, who is in the lion-pit.’ 35   Habakkuk said, ‘My lord, I have never been to Babylon. 36   I do not know where the lion-pit is.’ Then the angel took the prophet by the crown of his head, and carrying him by his hair, he swept him to Babylon with the blast of his breath and put him down above the pit. 37   Habakkuk called out, ‘Daniel, Daniel, take the meal that God has sent you!’ 38   Daniel said, ‘O God, thou dost indeed remember me; thou dost never forsake those who love thee.’ 39   Then he got up and ate; and God's angel returned Habakkuk at once to his home. 40   On the seventh day the king went to mourn for Daniel, but when he arrived at the pit and looked in, there sat Daniel! 41   Then the king cried aloud, ‘Great art thou, O Lord, the God of Daniel, and there is no God but thou alone.’ 42   So the king drew Daniel up; and the men who had planned to destroy him he flung into the pit, and then and there they were eaten up before his eyes.

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