Daniel 6:1-4

Daniel is Thrown into a Lions’ Den

6:1 It seemed like a good idea to Darius ¹  to appoint over the kingdom 120 satraps ²  who would be in charge of the entire kingdom. 6:2 Over them would be three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel. These satraps were accountable ³  to them, so that the king’s interests might not incur damage. 6:3 Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom. 6:4 Consequently the supervisors and satraps were trying to find ⁴  some pretext against Daniel in connection with administrative matters. ⁵  But they were unable to find any such damaging evidence, ⁶  because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption. ⁷ 

[6:1]  ¹ tn Aram “It was pleasing before Darius.”

[6:1]  ² tn This is a technical term for an official placed in charge of a region of the empire (cf. KJV, NLT “prince[s]”; NCV, TEV “governors”). These satraps were answerable to a supervisor, who in turn answered to Darius.

[6:2]  ³ tn Aram “giving an account.”

[6:4]  ⁴ tn Aram “looking to find.”

[6:4]  ⁵ tn Aram “from the side of the kingdom.”

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Aram “pretext and corruption.”

[6:4]  ⁷ tn Aram “no negligence or corruption was found in him.” The Greek version of Theodotion lacks the phrase “and no negligence or corruption was found in him.”