Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow pale.

At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions.

When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.

Again the one with the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.

“Do not be afraid, you who are highly precious,” he said. “Peace be with you! Be strong now; be very strong!” As he spoke with me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”

Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many of them. But a commander will put an end to his reproach and will turn it back upon him.

The northern army I will drive away from you, banishing it to a barren and desolate land, its front ranks into the Eastern Sea, and its rear guard into the Western Sea. And its stench will rise; its foul odor will ascend. For He has done great things.

This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having just the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.

Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

“For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve; but not a pebble will reach the ground.