Daniel 6:19
ESV
Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
NIV
At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.
NASB
Then the king got up at dawn, at the break of day, and went in a hurry to the lions’ den.
CSB
At the first light of dawn the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.
NLT
Very early the next morning, the king got up and hurried out to the lions’ den.
KJV
Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.
NKJV
Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions.
What does Daniel 6:19 mean?
Had Darius rejected the idea of Daniel's God, he would not have been anxious (Daniel 6:18). There would have been no urge to hurry if he was assured that he'd find Daniel's remains at the lions' den (Daniel 6:10–15). Instead, his respect for Daniel (Daniel 6:1–3) and faint hope in what he knows of the Lord of Israel (Daniel 6:16) makes this moment tense. Darius might have been thinking about the miraculous deliverance of Daniel's three friends from Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace (Daniel 3:24–26).Many aspects of Daniel's story foreshadow the experience of Jesus Christ. Centuries later, a group of women went to Jesus' tomb at early dawn, expecting to embalm Jesus' body. They had no hope of finding anything except a corpse. Of course, King Darius, like the women at Jesus' tomb, was about to be delightfully surprised (Daniel 6:21–22; Matthew 28:1–6).
