Bible Strands
Daniel 6:1
Now it pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes Darius the Mede immediately after receiving the kingdom, detailing his administrative restructuring. He establishes a new hierarchy to govern the territories under his control.
The words — שָׁפַר (shaphar) = it seemed good, and הֱקִים (hiqim) = he appointed. These verbs frame the king’s decision as a deliberate act of sovereign reorganization.
The thread — This administrative pattern echoes Exodus 18:21, where capable and trustworthy men are selected to share governance, and mirrors the provincial systems seen in Esther 1:1. The text places Darius’s restructuring within a broader biblical theme of ordered authority.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to observe how power is organized and delegated. The verse demands attention to the mechanics of governance rather than offering theological commentary.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;
Cross-references
- Exodus 18:21 Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
- Daniel 5:31 and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
- Esther 1:1 This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush.
- 1 Peter 2:14 or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.