¹ It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be in all the kingdom;

² and over these, three presidents -- of whom Daniel was one -- to whom these satraps should render account, and that the king should suffer no loss.

³ Now this Daniel surpassed the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to appoint him over the whole realm.

⁴ Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a pretext against Daniel with respect to the kingdom; but they could not find any pretext or fault; inasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

⁵ Then said these men, We shall not find any pretext against this Daniel, unless we find [it] against him touching the law of his God.

⁶ Then these presidents and satraps came in a body to the king, and said thus unto him: King Darius, live for ever!

⁷ All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counsellors, and the governors have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

⁸ Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

⁹ Therefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

¹⁰ And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

¹¹ But those men came in a body, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

¹² Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree: Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask [anything] of any god or man within thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

¹³ Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

¹⁴ Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore distressed thereby, and set his heart on Daniel to save him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

¹⁵ Then these men came in a body unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

¹⁶ Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast [him] into the den of lions. The king spoke and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will save thee.

¹⁷ And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his nobles, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

¹⁸ Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were concubines brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

¹⁹ Then the king arose with the light at break of day, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

²⁰ And when he came near unto the den, he cried with a mournful voice unto Daniel: the king spoke and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God whom thou servest continually been able to save thee from the lions?

²¹ Then Daniel spoke unto the king, O king, live for ever!

²² My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

²³ Thereupon was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

²⁴ And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces ere they came to the bottom of the den.

²⁵ Then king Darius wrote unto all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you.

²⁶ I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

²⁷ He saveth and delivereth, and he worketh signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth: who hath saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

²⁸ And this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

¹ And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy.

² And the beast which I saw was like to a leopardess, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as a lion's mouth; and the dragon gave to it his power, and his throne, and great authority;

³ and one of his heads [was] as slain to death, and his wound of death had been healed: and the whole earth wondered after the beast.

⁴ And they did homage to the dragon, because he gave the authority to the beast; and they did homage to the beast, saying, Who [is] like to the beast? and who can make war with it?

⁵ And there was given to it a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to it authority to pursue its career forty-two months.

⁶ And it opened its mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and those who have their tabernacle in the heaven.

⁷ And there was given to it to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given to it authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation;

⁸ and all that dwell on the earth shall do it homage, [every one] whose name had not been written from [the] founding of [the] world in the book of life of the slain Lamb.

⁹ If any one has an ear, let him hear.

¹⁰ If any one [leads] into captivity, he goes into captivity. If any one shall kill with [the] sword, he must with [the] sword be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.

¹¹ And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and it had two horns like to a lamb, and spake as a dragon;

¹² and it exercises all the authority of the first beast before it, and causes the earth and those that dwell in it to do homage to the first beast, whose wound of death was healed.

¹³ And it works great signs, that it should cause even fire to come down from heaven to the earth before men.

¹⁴ And it deceives those that dwell upon the earth by reason of the signs which it was given to it to work before the beast, saying to those that dwell upon the earth to make an image to the beast, which has the wound of the sword, and lived.

¹⁵ And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, and should cause that as many as should not do homage to the image of the beast should be killed.

¹⁶ And it causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bondmen, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead;

¹⁷ and that no one should be able to buy or sell save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of its name.

¹⁸ Here is wisdom. He that has understanding let him count the number of the beast: for it is a man's number; and its number [is] six hundred [and] sixty-six.