Daniel 6:24

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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
king	מַלְכָּ֗א mal.Ka'	H4430	a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
commanded	וַאֲמַ֣ר va.'a.Mar	H560	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
brought	וְהַיְתִ֞יו ve.hay.Tiv	H858	to arrive · conjunction + verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
those	אִלֵּךְ֙ 'i.leKh	H479	these · demonstrative particle
men	גֻּבְרַיָּ֤א guv.rai.Ya'	H1400	a person · noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
accused	אֲכַ֤לוּ 'a.Kha.lu	H399	to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Daniel	דָֽנִיֵּ֔אל da.ni.Yel	H1841	Danijel · proper noun, a man's name
cast	רְמ֔וֹ re.Mo	H7412	to throw · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
den	וּלְגֹ֤ב u.le.Go	H1358	a pit (for wild animals) (as cut out) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
lions	אַרְיָוָתָא֙ 'ar.ya.va.Ta'	H744	a lion · noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
them	אִנּ֖וּן 'i.Nun	H581	they · personal pronoun, 3rd person masculine plural
children	בֵּן bên	H1123	a son (as a builder of the family name)
wives	וּנְשֵׁיה֑וֹן u.ne.shei.Hon	H5389	a man · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
lions	אַרְיָ֣וָתָ֔א 'ar.Ya.va.Ta'	H744	a lion · noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
mastery	עַ֠ד 'ad	H5705	as far (or long · preposition
brake	הַדִּֽקוּ ha.Di.ku	H1855	to crumble or (trans.) crush · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
all	וְכָל ve.khol	H3606	properly · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct
bones	גַּרְמֵיה֖וֹן gar.mei.Hon	H1635	a bone · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
pieces	דְּקַק dᵉqaq	H1855	to crumble or (trans.) crush
ever	וְלָֽא ve.la'-	H3809	not (the simple or abs. negation) · conjunction + negative particle
came	מְט֞וֹ me.To	H4291	to arrive · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine plural
bottom	לְאַרְעִ֣ית le.'ar.'It	H773	the bottom · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
den	גֻּבָּ֗א gu.Ba'	H1358	a pit (for wild animals) (as cut out) · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 38:13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
Deuteronomy 19:18-20 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his broth…
Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put t…
Joshua 7:24-25 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and…
2 Kings 14:6 But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD comman…
Esther 9:25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon…
Psalms 54:5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 6:18-24

Here is, I. The melancholy night which the king had, upon Daniel's account, Dan 6:18. He had said, indeed, that God would deliver him out of the danger, but at the same time he could not forgive himself for throwing him into the danger; and justly might God deprive him of a friend whom he had himself used so barbarously. He went to his palace, vexed at himself for what he had done, and calling himself unwise and unjust for not adhering to the law of God and nature with a non obstante - a negative to the law of the Medes and Persians. He ate no supper, but passed the night fasting; his heart was already full of grief and fear. He forbade the music; nothing is more unpleasing that songs sung t…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 6:24

(Deu 19:19; Pro 19:5). accused--literally, "devoured the bones and flesh." It was just that they who had torn Daniel's character, and sought the tearing of his person, should be themselves given to be torn in pieces (Pro 11:8). their children--Among the Persians, all the kindred were involved in the guilt of one culprit. The Mosaic law expressly forbade this (Deu 24:16; Kg2 14:6). or ever--that is, "before ever." The lions sparing Daniel could not have been because they were full, as they showed the keenness of their hunger on the accusers.

Adam Clarke on Daniel 6:24

They brought those men - It was perfectly just that they should suffer that death to which they had endeavored to subject the innocent; but it was savage cruelty to destroy the women and children who had no part in the transgression.

John Gill on Daniel 6:24

And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel,.... Not all the hundred and twenty princes, and the two presidents; but the chief of them, who were most busy in getting the decree signed; watched Daniel's house, and what he did there; brought the charge against him to the king, and were most solicitous and urgent to have the decree put in execution against him: and they cast them into the den of lions; the servants of the king, who were sent to fetch them, and who brought these by the king's orders, cast them into the same den of lions that Daniel had been in: thus often the pit wicked men dig for others, they fall into themselves; so Haman man was hanged on the…

The Church Fathers

Since a simple punishment was not sufficient for those culprits, in order to balance the offense they had brought against a righteous man, after being condemned to the same punishment, they were thrown to the beasts together with their wives and children.
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON DANIEL 6:24

Daniel also was persecuted as Jesus was persecuted.… Daniel they cast into the pit of lions, and he was delivered and came up out of its midst uninjured; and Jesus they sent down into the pit of the abode of the dead, and he ascended, and death had not dominion over him. Concerning Daniel they expected that when he had fallen into the pit he would not come up again; and concerning Jesus they said, "Since he has fallen, he shall not rise again." From [harming] Daniel the mouths of the ravenous and destructive lions were closed; and from [harming] Jesus was closed the mouth of death, [though] ravenous and destructive of [living] forms. They sealed the pit of Daniel and guarded it with diligence; and they guarded the grave of Jesus with diligence, as they said, "Set guards to watch at the tomb." When Daniel came up, his accusers were ashamed; and when Jesus rose, all they who had crucified him were ashamed.
— Aphrahat the Persian Sage, DEMONSTRATIONS 21:18

Then, "the king spoke and they brought the men who accused Daniel and they themselves and their sons and their wives were cast into the den of lions, and they did not reach the bottom of the den before the lions mastered them, and they ground all their bones." [Daniel 6:24] And so they who have trusted in a human king and in wealth, they themselves dug a trench, and they fell in it for their destruction. And then this judgment happened to the three boys, who though being in the furnace of fire were not mastered, but the fire passed through to the outside and consumed the Chaldeans. For the eyes of God righteously assigns worthy judgment to men. As also befell Haman, who wished to annihilate on one day Mordecai and his race, and having readied fifty cubit gallows for Mordecai, Haman himself with all his household were hanged on it. Now they who accused Daniel and handed him over as food for beasts, they themselves were destroyed by lions.
— Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 3.30.1-6

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Darius — The holder or supporter, the name of several Persian kings. (1.) Darius the Mede (Dan. 11:1), “the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes” (9:1). On the death of Belshazzar the Chaldean he…
Medes, Media — (middle land). Media lay northwest of Persia proper, south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of Armenia and Assyria, west and northwest of the great salt desert of Iran. Its greatest length was…
Media — Heb. Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) “Madai,” Gen. 10:2; (2) “Medes,” 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) “Media,” Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isa. 21:2; Dan. 8:20; (4) “Mede,” only in Dan. 11:1.…
Temptation — (1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God “tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., ‘did prove’] Abraham;” and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their…
Indictments · .Daniel, on the charge of — .Daniel, on the charge of
Lion · Used for the torture of criminals — Used for the torture of criminals
Lion, The · Criminals often thrown to — Criminals often thrown to
Punishments · Capital kinds of: Exposing to wild beasts — Capital kinds of: Exposing to wild beasts

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Daniel 6:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 6:18-24

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 6:24

Adam Clarke on Daniel 6:24

John Gill on Daniel 6:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Daniel 6:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Daniel 6:18-24

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Daniel 6:24

Adam Clarke on Daniel 6:24

John Gill on Daniel 6:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Daniel 6:24

Keil & Delitzsch on Daniel 6:11-25

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Daniel 6:21-22

Rashi on Daniel 6:24