Bel and the Dragon 1

1And King Astyages was gathered to his fathers,

2And Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom, and Daniel was a companion of the king and honored above all his friends.

3And there was an idol among the Babylonians whose name was Bel, and for it twelve artabas of fine flour were spent each day.

4and forty sheep and six measures of wine. And the king revered him and went every day to bow down to him, but Daniel bowed down to his God. And the king said to him,

5Why do you not bow down to Bel? But he said, “Because I do not revere idols made by hands, but the living God, who created heaven and”

6the earth and having dominion over all flesh? And the king said to him, “Does Bel not seem to you to be a living god? Or do you not see how much he eats and

7Does he drink every day? And Daniel said, laughing, “Do not be deceived, O king; for this one is clay inside and bronze outside, and never—”

8has never eaten. Then the king became angry and called his priests and said to them, “If you do not tell me who is eating the

9for this expense, you will die; but if you show that Bel eats them, Daniel will die, because he has blasphemed against Bel. And

10Daniel said to the king, “Let it be according to your word.” And there were seventy priests of Bel, besides women and children; and he came in.

11The king went with Daniēl into the house of Bel. And the priests of Bel said, “Look, we are going outside. But you, O king, set out the food, and after mixing the wine, set it out, and shut the door.”

12And seal it with your ring. Then, when you come in the morning, if you do not find everything eaten by Bel, we will die—or else Daniel, who is lying against us.

13But they were unconcerned, because they had made a hidden entrance under the table, and through it they would go in

14and they consumed them completely. And it happened that, when those men had gone out, the king set the food before Bel, and Daniel commanded his young servants, and they brought ashes and scattered them over the whole temple in the presence of the king alone. Then, after going out, they shut the door and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and went away.

15But the priests came by night, according to their custom, and the women

16And their children too, and they ate up everything and drank it all. Then the king rose early in the morning, and Daniel with him.

17And he said, “Are the seals intact, Daniel?” And he said, “They are intact, O king.”

18And it happened, when the doors were opened, that the king looked at the table and cried out with a loud voice, “Great are you, Bel, and there is no deceit with you.”

19Not even one. And Daniel laughed, and held the king back from going inside, and said, “Now look at the floor, and take notice.”

20Whose footprints are these? And the king said, “I see the footprints of men and women and children.”

21Then the king became angry and arrested the priests and their wives and children, and they showed him the secret doors through which they used to go in and consume what was on the table.

22And the king killed them, and he gave Bel over to Daniel, and he destroyed him and his temple.

23And there was a great dragon, and the Babylonians worshiped it.

24And the king said to Daniel, “You cannot say that this is not a living god; and bow down to him.”

25And Daniel said, “I will bow down to the Lord my God, because he is the living God.”

26But you, O king, give me authority, and I will kill the dragon without sword or staff. And the king said, “I give it to you.”

27And Daniel took pitch and fat and hair, and boiled them together and made cakes, and put them into the dragon’s mouth; and when the dragon had eaten them, it burst apart. And he said, “See your objects of worship.”

28And it happened that when the Babylonians heard, they became indignant and gathered together against the king and said, “The king has become a Jew; he has torn down Bel and killed the dragon and slaughtered the priests.”

29And they came to the king and said, “Hand Daniel over to us; otherwise we will kill you and your household.”

30And the king saw that they were pressing him very hard, and being compelled, he handed Daniel over to them.

31But they threw him into the lions' pit, and he was there for six days.

32There were seven lions in the pit, and each day they were given two bodies and two sheep; but then nothing was given to them, so that they might devour Daniel.

33And Habakkuk the prophet was in Judea, and he had cooked a stew and crumbled bread into a bowl, and was going to the field to bring it to the reapers.

34And an angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, “Carry the meal that you have to Babylon, to Daniel in the lions’ pit.”

35And Habakkuk said, “Lord, I have not seen Babylon, and I do not know the pit.”

36And the angel of the Lord seized him by the crown of his head, and carrying him by the hair of his head set him in Babylon above the pit, in the rushing sound of the

37And Habakkuk cried out, saying, “Daniel, Daniel, take the meal that God has sent you.”

38Take the meal that God has sent you. And Daniel said, “For you have remembered me, O God, and have not forsaken those who love you.”

39you. And Daniel rose and ate, and the angel of God departed—

40He set Habakkuk down at once in his own place. Then the king came on the seventh day to mourn for Daniel, and he came to the pit and looked in, and behold, Daniel was sitting there.

41And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “Great are you, Lord, the God of the

42Daniel, and there is no other besides you. And he pulled him up. But he threw those responsible for his destruction into the pit, and they were devoured at once before him.