Daniel in the Lion's Den Coloring Page: Free PDF Sheet

The Story of Daniel in the Lion's Den

Daniel and the Babylonian Exile

The Book of Daniel opens in 605 BCE, when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took a group of young Israelite nobles to his court at Babylon. Daniel was among them. He and three companions — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego — refused to adopt the Babylonian diet and religious practices, yet they excelled in wisdom and were given positions in the royal administration. The Book of Daniel covers their lives and visions through the Babylonian and Persian periods, ending during the reign of Cyrus the Great. Daniel 6, the lion's den episode, takes place under Darius the Mede — either a governor or king in the Persian administrative system, depending on the historical interpretation.

The Conspiracy and the King's Decree

Other officials in the Persian court were jealous of Daniel's high standing with King Darius. Unable to find any corruption or negligence in his administration, they devised a plan based on his religious practice. They persuaded the king to issue a decree that for thirty days no one could pray to any god or man except the king, on pain of being thrown into the lions' den. Daniel's habit of praying three times daily facing Jerusalem was well known; he continued it openly after the decree was issued. The officials reported him to the king, who was distressed but legally bound by his own irrevocable decree. He ordered Daniel thrown into the den, saying, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you."

The Night in the Den and the Morning Discovery

King Darius spent the night fasting and unable to sleep. At dawn he hurried to the lion's den and called out to Daniel. Daniel's voice answered from inside: "My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me." The king ordered Daniel lifted out, declared him innocent, and had the conspirators and their families thrown into the same den — where the lions overpowered them immediately. Darius then issued a decree throughout his kingdom that all people should fear and reverence the God of Daniel. The episode is one of several in the Book of Daniel where a pagan king witnesses God's power and issues a proclamation in response.

Lions in the Ancient Near East

In the ancient Near East, lions carried enormous symbolic weight. The Mesopotamian lion hunt was a royal activity that demonstrated the king's power to impose order on chaos — Assyrian palace reliefs showing the king hunting lions are among the most celebrated ancient artworks in the British Museum. Keeping lions in royal enclosures was a common practice among Babylonian and Persian rulers, both as a display of power and as a means of punishment. The Persian royal road was flanked with lion-headed gate posts at major waypoints. Lions appear on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, now partially reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, as symbols of Ishtar, goddess of war. The den of lions in Daniel's story was not a metaphor but a real administrative feature of a Babylonian or Persian court.

Daniel's Prophetic Visions

Beyond the lion's den episode, the Book of Daniel is most significant in biblical studies for its extended prophetic visions in chapters 7 through 12. These chapters describe four great beasts arising from the sea, a figure called the Ancient of Days seated on a throne, and a "son of man" figure who receives an everlasting kingdom. Daniel 9 contains the "seventy weeks" prophecy that has been interpreted in multiple ways in Jewish and Christian eschatology. The book is placed among the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament and in the Writings section (Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible, reflecting different assessments of its literary type and date of composition.

Daniel in Art and Culture

The image of Daniel calm and protected among lions has appeared in religious art since the Roman catacombs, where early Christians painted it as a symbol of divine protection and deliverance from persecution. The earliest known Daniel images in Christian art date to the third century CE. In later periods, Rubens, Briton Rivière, and other Western painters produced major canvas works depicting the scene. Rivière's 1872 painting Daniel's Answer to the King, showing a small lone figure in a pit surrounded by a dozen lions, became one of the most widely reproduced Victorian Bible illustrations. The image works well for children because the contrast between the standing human figure and the large seated animals immediately communicates the story's essential drama without requiring any text.