Bible Strands
Daniel 6:24
At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Darius issues a command to execute the false accusers immediately after Daniel is lifted unharmed from the den. The order occurs at the precise moment of transition between Daniel's deliverance and the king's subsequent public decree.
The words — The Aramaic phrase וַ/אֲמַ֣ר מַלְכָּ֗/א (va./'a.Mar mal.Ka/') translates literally as "and the king said," marking the royal command. The verb וְ/הַיְתִ֞יו (ve./hay.Tiv) means "and they brought," denoting the forced transport of the accused men and their families.
The thread — The narrative reversal aligns with the legal standard in Deuteronomy 19:18 regarding the punishment of false witnesses. The immediate execution of the accusers parallels the fate of Haman in Esther 7:10, while the phrase "crushed all their bones" echoes the affliction language of Isaiah 38:13.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe the direct correlation between malicious accusation and its immediate reversal. It presents judicial retribution as a factual outcome rather than a moral lesson, demanding attention to the sequence of events without embellishment.
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
And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 38:13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
- Deuteronomy 19:18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,
- Deuteronomy 24:16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
- Joshua 7:24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.
- 2 Kings 14:6 Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.”
- Esther 9:25 But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
- Psalms 54:5 He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.
- Esther 9:10 They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
- Proverbs 11:8 The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.