Bible Verses

You will return in the morning, and if you find that Bel has not eaten the food and drunk the wine, we are ready to be executed. But if the opposite happens, Daniel must die for telling lies and slandering us.”

The priests said to the king: “See, we are going outside. We will leave you here inside, O king, to set out the food and prepare the wine. Then you can leave them, shut the door, and seal it with your ring.

There were seventy priests of Bel, along with their wives and children; together with Daniel, the king went to Bel’s temple.

But if you can prove that Bel consumes them, then Daniel will be the one to die for blaspheming.” Daniel responded to the king: “Let it be as you say.”

Enraged, the king summoned his priests and told them: “If you will not tell me who devours these offerings, you all will die.

Daniel laughed. “Do not be deceived, O king. This is only clay on the inside and bronze on the outside. It never ate or drank anything.”

The king asked: “Don’t you think Bel is a living god? Don’t you see how much he eats and drinks every day?”

The king asked him: “Why don’t you worship Bel?” Daniel answered: “I worship no man-made idols, but only the living God, who made heaven and earth, and rules over all peoples.”

The king participated in this cult and worshiped the idol every day. Daniel, however, only worshiped his own God.

The Babylonians had an idol called Bel, to whom twelve bushels of fine flour, forty sheep, and six measures of wine were offered daily.