1 It pleased Darius, and so he appointed over the kingdom one hundred twenty governors, to be placed throughout his whole kingdom.
2 And over these, three leaders, of whom Daniel was one, so that the governors would be accountable to them and the king would have no trouble.
3 And so Daniel excelled above all the leaders and governors, because a greater spirit of God was in him.
4 Furthermore, the king considered setting him over the entire kingdom; whereupon the leaders and the governors sought to find a complaint against Daniel and in favor of the king. And they could find no case, or even suspicion, because he was faithful, and no fault or suspicion was found in him.
5 Therefore, these men said, "We will not find any complaint against this Daniel, unless it is against the law of his God."
6 Then the leaders and governors took the king aside privately and spoke to him in this way: "King Darius, live forever.
7 All the leaders of your kingdom, the magistrates and governors, the senators and judges, have taken counsel that an imperial decree and edict should be published, so that all who ask any petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, will be cast into the den of lions.