Bible story for kids · Daniel 6
Daniel and the lions
Daniel worked for King Darius. He was so good at his job that the king planned to put him over the whole kingdom.
Some of the other leaders were jealous. They looked for something wrong that Daniel did, but they could not find anything. So they made a plan.
They tricked the king into making a new law: for thirty days, no one could pray to any god or person except the king. Anyone who did would be thrown into a den of lions.
Daniel heard about the law. He went home to his upstairs room, opened the windows toward Jerusalem, and knelt down to pray. He prayed three times a day and thanked God, just as he always had.
The jealous men saw Daniel praying and told the king. The king was very upset. He wanted to save Daniel, and he tried until the sun went down. But the law could not be changed.
So Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den. The king said, “Your God, whom you serve, will save you.” A stone was put over the opening.
The king could not eat or sleep all night.
Early the next morning, he ran to the den. “Daniel,” he called, “has your God saved you from the lions?”
Daniel answered, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths. They have not hurt me.” Daniel came out without a scratch, because he had trusted in God.
From the Bible
My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions, and they did me no harm, since I was found innocent in his presence; and before you as well, O king, I have committed no crime.”
Talk about it
- Daniel kept praying even when it was against the law. Why do you think he did?
- When and where do you like to pray?
- The king could not sleep because he was worried about his friend. Who do you pray for when you are worried?
For grown-ups: what the text says
Daniel was likely an old man by now, not a young one: this is decades after he was taken to Babylon (Daniel 1). The chapter ends with the accusers and their families thrown to the lions (Daniel 6:24), which this telling leaves out. King Darius then wrote to the whole kingdom to honor Daniel’s God (Daniel 6:25-27).