Daniel 6:19-23, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Daniel 6:19-23
Daniel Is Found Alive
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Why this sits here
The narrative pairs genuine deliverance with collective retaliatory violence that must not be copied, softened, or celebrated. “Daniel Is Found Alive” opens that larger movement. Its final verse prepares “Imperial Retaliation Kills Whole Families” in 6:24.
Why this reading fits
Innocence
Daniel's statement concerns the charge and conduct toward the king; it is not a claim of sinless perfection.
Trust and rescue
The story explains this rescue but does not promise identical bodily outcomes.
Families killed
Ancient collective punishment is narrated, not endorsed as an enduring justice norm.
A needed correction
Reading Daniel 6:19-23 inside Daniel's complete literary and historical movement rules out these uses:
The rescue does not guarantee that faith prevents injury or death.
Daniel's innocence does not mean he was sinless.
The deaths of wives and children do not authorize collective punishment, revenge, or harm to an offender's family.
The narrative does not require celebrating the terror of the accusers' deaths.
How this should shape us
How should this shape us today?
Celebrate release while resisting retaliation that expands guilt through families, ethnicity, association, or collective labels. In Daniel 6:19-23, respond specifically to this movement: At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Teach it back
Explain Daniel 6:19-23 in your own words. Include its movement, ancient horizon, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Innocence
Daniel's statement concerns the charge and conduct toward the king; it is not a claim of sinless perfection.
Trust and rescue
The story explains this rescue but does not promise identical bodily outcomes.
Families killed
Ancient collective punishment is narrated, not endorsed as an enduring justice norm.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
innocence
The Aramaic denotes innocence or blamelessness in the matter at issue.
How certain? probablebelieved / trusted
The narrator connects trust to this deliverance without turning it into a universal causal formula.
How certain? probabletheir children and wives
The explicit family victims require a non-imitation and collective-punishment boundary.
How certain? probableWhat the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Imperial setting and limits of reconstruction
No secure Persian lions-den procedure explains the tale. The family execution reflects ancient royal retaliation and conflicts with individual-accountability principles elsewhere in Scripture.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material Hebrew-Aramaic alternatives
KJV wording is retained from the pinned corpus; material Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek-edition differences are identified without replacing the displayed text.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Daniel in Jewish Scripture and ancient textual traditions
Read this unit inside Daniel's exilic court setting and scriptural world before importing later apocalyptic systems.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Later reception with first-horizon controls
Later Jewish and Christian reception may illuminate the unit, but it does not erase its ancient Judean horizon or settle disputed symbols.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Masoretic, Old Greek, Theodotion, and composition care
The Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic text controls the pinned KJV coverage, while Old Greek and Theodotion remain material witnesses whose agreements and differences require passage-specific care.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters may defend, explain, critique, or bracket the collective execution. This package names it as narrative violence and refuses to derive a norm from it.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The unit places human power under divine judgment and care without licensing readers to claim Daniel's revelatory authority for themselves.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This unit contributes to Daniel's movement from exile and court service through beastly empire, suffering, judgment, resurrection hope, and promised rest: At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The rescue does not guarantee that faith prevents injury or death.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Rescue of an innocent person should not become permission to victimize other innocent people. Daniel 6:19-23 keeps that truth tied to this claim: At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Daniel's innocence does not mean he was sinless.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Rescue of an innocent person should not become permission to victimize other innocent people. Daniel 6:19-23 keeps that truth tied to this claim: At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
The deaths of wives and children do not authorize collective punishment, revenge, or harm to an offender's family.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Rescue of an innocent person should not become permission to victimize other innocent people. Daniel 6:19-23 keeps that truth tied to this claim: At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
The narrative does not require celebrating the terror of the accusers' deaths.
Daniel's memorable stories, numbers, and symbols can feel easier to imitate or decode than to interpret within their literary, historical, and ethical setting.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Rescue of an innocent person should not become permission to victimize other innocent people. Daniel 6:19-23 keeps that truth tied to this claim: At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
At dawn Daniel credits an angel with shutting the lions' mouths, claims innocence in the charge, and emerges without injury.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Daniel 6:19-23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 6:19-23; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1655–1657, translation and translator notes on 6:19-23
Supports: Bilingual form, genres, composition, imperial settings, Antiochus IV, four kingdoms, seventy weeks, resurrection, and major critical alternatives.
P. R. Davies, 'Daniel,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 563–571; chapter-level discussion applied to 6:19-23
Supports: Masoretic, Old Greek, and Theodotion comparison; philology; court-tale and Daniel 7 textual stages; and formation arguments.
Suchard, Aramaic Daniel, pp. 84–95; textual reconstruction and formation discussion applied to 6:19-23
Supports: Two major Greek editions, substantial chapters 4–6 differences, numbering, wording, order, and additions outside the pinned KJV mapping.
McLay, NETS Daniel, introduction printed pp. 991–994 and parallel Old Greek/Theodotion translation pp. 995–1025; 6:19-23
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Daniel 6:19-23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew aramaic text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Daniel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew-Aramaic wording, morphology, language boundary, names, repeated roots, clauses, and lexical controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Dan.xml, 6:19-23; Hebrew 1:1–2:4a and 8:1–12:13, Aramaic 2:4b–7:28
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Daniel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew-Aramaic, textual, historical, translation, chronology, angelic-language, and duration notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Daniel PDF, printed pp. 1655–1657, translation and translator notes on 6:19-23
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Daniel
Philip R. Davies
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Bilingual form, genres, composition, imperial settings, Antiochus IV, four kingdoms, seventy weeks, resurrection, and major critical alternatives.
Exact location: P. R. Davies, 'Daniel,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 563–571; chapter-level discussion applied to 6:19-23
Open source ↗open access scholarly monograph
Aramaic Daniel: A Textual Reconstruction of Chapters 1-7
Benjamin D. Suchard
Brill, Studia Semitica Neerlandica 73, 2022
Supports: Masoretic, Old Greek, and Theodotion comparison; philology; court-tale and Daniel 7 textual stages; and formation arguments.
Exact location: Suchard, Aramaic Daniel, pp. 84–95; textual reconstruction and formation discussion applied to 6:19-23
Open source ↗greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Daniel
R. Timothy McLay
Oxford University Press for the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2009, electronic corrections through 2014
Supports: Two major Greek editions, substantial chapters 4–6 differences, numbering, wording, order, and additions outside the pinned KJV mapping.
Exact location: McLay, NETS Daniel, introduction printed pp. 991–994 and parallel Old Greek/Theodotion translation pp. 995–1025; 6:19-23
Open source ↗