Daniel 6:22
“My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Context
After a night in the lions' den, King Darius rushes to the den at dawn and calls out; Daniel answers, alive and unharmed, explaining how he was preserved.
What Does Daniel 6:22 Mean?
Daniel emerges from the lions' den alive and gives all the credit to God: "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths." He does not boast of his own survival or bravery; he names the rescuer. The God toward whom he prayed three times a day, even at the risk of death, answered by sending a messenger to still the beasts. The deliverance is personal and direct -- "my God" -- the language of someone who knew the One he trusted long before the crisis.
The reason given is striking: "forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me." Daniel's clear conscience before God matched his clear conduct before the king -- "I have done no hurt." His integrity was not a performance for human eyes; it held up under God's gaze. This verse links faithful living and divine rescue without reducing God to a vending machine, since elsewhere Scripture shows the faithful are not always spared physical harm. Here, in this case, God chose to deliver, and Daniel's testimony points every onlooker -- including a pagan king -- back to the living God. A blameless life lived before God becomes a witness that even kings cannot ignore.
In the Original Language
The Aramaic word for "innocency" (zaku) means purity or cleanness, the condition of being found guiltless when examined.
Cross References
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”
- Daniel 6:10
“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”
- Psalm 91:11
“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 thine hand, O king.”
- Daniel 3:17
Application
Live with a clear conscience before God as well as before people, and when rescue comes, give Him the credit openly.
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