1 When King Astyages was buried with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian took over his kingdom.
2 Daniel was a companion of the king, honored above all Cyrus’ political advisors.
3 Now the Babylonians had an idol named Bel. Each day they supplied it with twelve bushels of fine flour, forty sheep, and sixty gallons of wine.
4 The king honored Bel and worshipped it daily, but Daniel worshipped his own God. So the king said to him, "Why don’t you worship Bel?"
5 He said, "I don’t honor idols made by humans, rather the living God who created heaven and earth and has authority over all living things."
6 The king said to him, "You believe Bel is a living god, don’t you? Haven’t you seen how much he eats and drinks every day?"