Bible Strands
Daniel 6:16
So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Darius speaks to Daniel in the interval between the order to throw him into the den and the sealing of the pit. The king's words are a farewell, not a command.
The words — רְמוֹ (re.Mo, H7412) is the blunt verb "they threw him," the suffix marking Daniel as an object cast. גֻּבָּא (gu.Ba', H1358) is a loanword for a lion enclosure or pit, not a cave.
The thread — The king's wish "May your God deliver you" parallels the Psalms and Job passages where God is named as the one who rescues the righteous in trouble (Psalms 37:39; Job 5:19; Psalms 91:14). The king externalizes what those texts state directly: deliverance belongs to God, not to human power.
Why it lands — The sentence is a wish, not a promise; the king offers no guarantee, only a hope directed at someone else's God. The reader is left in the gap between that wish and the answer that arrives in verse 22, and asked to notice what the king does not know: the outcome is already fixed.
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
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
Cross-references
- Psalms 37:39 The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their stronghold in time of trouble.
- Job 5:19 He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.
- Psalms 91:14 “Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.
- Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.
- Daniel 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
- 2 Samuel 3:39 And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!”
- Psalms 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
- Daniel 3:17 If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.
- Daniel 6:20 When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
- Acts 25:11 If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”