What Does Daniel 6:22 Mean?
Two renderings of the same sentence, the verses it belongs to, and what the passage is doing — so you can decide what it means rather than take someone's word for it.
"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." Daniel 6:22, King James Version
The same verse in modern English
"My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”" Daniel 6:22, Berean Standard Bible
What it sits inside
A verse quoted on its own is the commonest way one gets misread. Here it is with what comes immediately before and after, in the King James Version.
Daniel 6:20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
Daniel 6:21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
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.
Daniel 6:23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.
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.
A conversation built on it
Being betrayed by someone you trusted turns the trusting itself into the thing you regret. Daniel was thrown to lions precisely because he kept doing what was right, and the account is careful about what happened next — the lions were real, the night was real, and they did not touch him. The trust was never the mistake.
Questions people ask
What does Daniel 6:22 mean?
In modern English (Berean Standard Bible) it reads: “My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”” The King James rendering most people know is: “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.”
What is the context of Daniel 6:22?
The verses immediately around it read: (Daniel 6:20) And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? (Daniel 6:21) Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. (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. (Daniel 6:23) Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. (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.
How is Daniel 6:22 used in a conversation about this?
Being betrayed by someone you trusted turns the trusting itself into the thing you regret. Daniel was thrown to lions precisely because he kept doing what was right, and the account is careful about what happened next — the lions were real, the night was real, and they did not touch him. The trust was never the mistake.
Reading it is one thing. Saying what it stirs up is another.
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