For an entire day the princes watched Daniel. Three times they saw him go to his chamber, and three times they heard his voice lifted in earnest intercession to God. The next morning they laid their complaint before the king. Daniel, his most honored and faithful statesman, had set the royal decree at defiance. "Hast thou not signed a decree," they reminded him, "that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?" "The thing is true," the king answered, "according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not."

Satraperne holdt Daniel under opsyn en hel dag. Tre gange så de ham gå ind i sin stue, og tre gange hørte de ham bede alvorligt til Gud. Den næste morgen forebragte de kongen deres klage. Daniel, hans mest ærede og trofaste statsmand, havde trodset det kongelige dekret. De mindede kongen om dekretet med følgende ord: "Har du ikke udstedt et forbud om, at enhver, som i tredive dage beder til nogen anden end dig, o konge, det være sig til en gud eller et menneske, skal kastes i løvekulen?" Kongen svarede: "Sagen står fast efter medernes og persernes ubrydelige lov."