Prophet / Statesman · OT
Daniel
A Jewish exile who served four kings of Babylon and Persia and received apocalyptic visions of the kingdoms to come.
Daniel was taken captive to Babylon around 605 BC, while still a youth, in Nebuchadnezzar's first deportation from Jerusalem. Trained in the king's court, he distinguished himself by refusing to defile himself with the royal food (Daniel 1) and by interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image (Daniel 2).
Across more than seventy years of public service he rose to the highest offices under Babylonian and Persian rule. He read the writing on Belshazzar's wall the night Babylon fell (Daniel 5) and was preserved in the lions' den under Darius the Mede (Daniel 6). His later chapters record visions of four kingdoms, the Son of Man, and the seventy weeks — apocalyptic literature that has shaped both Jewish and Christian eschatology.
Throughout, Daniel models a quiet, unbending faithfulness: a man of prayer three times a day, in exile, in courtrooms, and at the edge of execution.
Key moments
Refusing the king's food
Daniel and his friends keep their dietary convictions in Babylon (Daniel 1).
The fiery furnace
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are preserved (Daniel 3).
The lions' den
Daniel continues to pray openly under a death-decree (Daniel 6).
Visions of the kingdoms
Receives the visions of Daniel 7–12, including the Son of Man.
Key verses
"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."
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"Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his. And he changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings, and setteth up kings; he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that have understanding; he revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him."
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"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
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"And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem); and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."
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"I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
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"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name."
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Frequently asked
How old was Daniel in the lions' den?
Daniel was taken captive as a youth around 605 BC and the lions' den episode occurred under Darius the Mede after Babylon's fall in 539 BC, making him likely in his eighties.
Did Daniel really survive a night with lions?
Daniel 6:22 attributes the deliverance directly to God's angel shutting the lions' mouths. The text presents it as a miracle, vindicating Daniel's integrity before a watching pagan court.
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