13 Then they responded and said before the king, “Daniel, who is from the exiles of Judah, is not paying any attention to you, O king, or to the decree that you have signed, and three times daily he says his prayer.”
14 Then the king, when he heard that report, he was extremely distressed over it; and concerning Daniel he was determined to rescue him. And until the setting of the sun he was making every effort to deliver him.
15 Then these men came as a group to the king and said, “Recall, O king, that with respect to the law of the Medes and Persians that any decree or edict that the king establishes cannot be changed.”
16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought in and they threw him into the lion pit. The king said to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve faithfully, may he rescue you!”
17 And a stone was brought and it was put on the entrance of the pit, and the king sealed it with his signet ring and with the signet rings of his lords, so that nothing would be changed concerning Daniel.
18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night in fasting, and no food was brought in before him and his sleep fled from him.
19 Then the king got up at daybreak, at first light, and he went in haste to the lion pit.