Apocrypha: Daniel And The Priests of Bel
When King Astyages was laid to rest with his
ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his
kingdom. 2 Daniel was a companion of the king, and
was the most honoured of all his friends.
3 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day
they provided for it twelve bushels of choice flour and forty
sheep and six measures of wine. 4 The king revered it and
went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshipped his own
God.
So the king said to him, ‘Why do you not worship Bel?’ 5 He
answered, ‘Because I do not revere idols made with hands,
but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has
dominion over all living creatures.’
6 The king said to him, ‘Do you not think that Bel is a living
god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every
day?’ 7 And Daniel laughed, and said, ‘Do not be deceived,
O king, for this thing is only clay inside and bronze outside,
and it never ate or drank anything.’
8 Then the king was angry and called the priests of Bel
and said to them, ‘If you do not tell me who is eating these
provisions, you shall die. 9 But if you prove that Bel is eating
them, Daniel shall die, because he has spoken blasphemy
against Bel.’ Daniel said to the king, ‘Let it be done as you
have said.’
10 Now there were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives
and children. So the king went with Daniel into the temple
of Bel. 11 The priests of Bel said, ‘See, we are now going
outside; you yourself, O king, set out the food and prepare
the wine, and shut the door and seal it with your signet.
12 When you return in the morning, if you do not find that
Bel has eaten it all, we will die; otherwise Daniel will, who is
telling lies about us.’ 13 They were unconcerned, for beneath
the table they had made a hidden entrance, through which
they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions.
14 After they had gone out, the king set out the food for
Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes, and
they scattered them throughout the whole temple in the
presence of the king alone. Then they went out, shut the
door and sealed it with the king’s signet, and departed. 15
During the night the priests came as usual, with their wives
and children, and they ate and drank everything.
16 Early in the morning the king rose and came, and Daniel
with him. 17 The king said, ‘Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?’
He answered, ‘They are unbroken, O king.’ 18 As soon as
the doors were opened, the king looked at the table, and
shouted in a loud voice, ‘You are great, O Bel, and in you
there is no deceit at all!’
19 But Daniel laughed and restrained the king from going
in. ‘Look at the floor’, he said, ‘and notice whose footprints
these are.’ 20 The king said, ‘I see the footprints of men and
women and children.’
21 Then the king was enraged, and he arrested the priests
and their wives and children. They showed him the secret
doors through which they used to enter to consume what
was on the table. 22 Therefore the king put them to death,
and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.