Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever.
Parallel translations
- KJV Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
- BSB Then Daniel replied, “O king, may you live forever!
- NKJV Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!
- NASB Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever!
- NLT Daniel answered, “Long live the king!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Daniel answers, alive and unharmed, with a respectful greeting to the king. His calm reply testifies that God has preserved him.
Overview
Daniel responds from the den with the customary blessing, signaling he is safe. His composure reflects the peace of one who trusted God through the night. The living voice from the sealed den is the first evidence of the deliverance God has accomplished.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Dan 2:4Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live forever: tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
- Dan 6:6Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus to him, King Darius, live forever.
- Neh 2:3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.
How Daniel 6:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.