In the morning, at the earliest sign of daylight, the king got up and rushed to the lions’ den.

Does a lion roar in the woods if he has not cornered his prey? ¹  Does a young lion bellow from his den if he has not caught something?

And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ ¹  but you are turning it into a den ²  of robbers!” ³ 

The king gave another order, ¹  and those men who had maliciously accused ²  Daniel were brought and thrown ³  into the lions’ den – they, their children, and their wives. ⁴  They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind, because he had trusted in his God.

saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ ¹  but you have turned it into a den ²  of robbers!” ³ 

So the king gave the order, ¹  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ²  of lions. The king consoled ³  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”

Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening ¹  to the den. The king sealed ²  it with his signet ring and with those ³  of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel.

Then he began to teach ¹  them and said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? ²  But you have turned it into a den ³  of robbers!” ⁴ 

A baby ¹  will play over the hole of a snake; ²  over the nest ³  of a serpent an infant ⁴  will put his hand. ⁵ 

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ¹  is to be a hideout for robbers? ²  You had better take note! ³  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

Where now is the den of the lions, ¹  the feeding place ²  of the young lions, where ³  the lion, lioness, ⁴  and lion cub once prowled ⁵  and no one disturbed them? ⁶ 

To all the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors it seemed like a good idea for a royal edict to be issued and an interdict to be enforced. For the next thirty days anyone who prays ¹  to any god or human other than you, O king, should be thrown into a den of lions.

As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice, ¹  “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you continually serve able to rescue you from the lions?”

So they approached the king and said to him, ¹  “Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?” The king replied, “That is correct, ²  according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.”

The Lord said, ¹  “I will make Jerusalem ²  a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. ³  I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them.”

The wild animals go to their lairs, and in their dens they remain.

when they crouch in their dens, when they wait in ambush in the thicket?

Her house is the way to the grave, ¹  going down ²  to the chambers ³  of death.

He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; ¹  he lies in ambush, waiting to catch ²  the oppressed; he catches the oppressed ³  by pulling in his net. ⁴