One of the profiles in People of the Bible, with every point tied to a chapter and verse you can check.
What Daniel is known for
- Refusing the king's food and staying healthy on vegetables and water
- Explaining Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great statue
- Reading the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast
- Surviving a night in the lions' den
- Visions of four beasts, the son of man and the seventy weeks
Daniel’s life in order
Taken to Babylon
Daniel 1:1–21
After Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem, Daniel and other young nobles are taken to Babylon to be trained for royal service and given Babylonian names. Daniel asks not to eat the king's food, and after ten days on vegetables and water he and his three friends look healthier than the rest.
The king's dream
Daniel 2:1–49
Nebuchadnezzar demands that his wise men tell him both his dream and its meaning, or die. After praying with his friends, Daniel describes a statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay, explains it as a series of kingdoms, and is promoted to high office.
The great tree
Daniel 4:1–37
Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a huge tree cut down to a stump, and Daniel reluctantly explains that it points to the king himself. The king loses his reason for a time and, when it returns, praises the God of heaven.
The writing on the wall
Daniel 5:1–31
At a feast, King Belshazzar drinks from vessels taken from the Jerusalem temple, and a hand appears and writes on the palace wall. Daniel reads the message as a judgment on the king, and that same night Belshazzar is killed.
The lions' den
Daniel 6:1–28
Under Darius the Mede, jealous officials trick the king into banning prayer to anyone but him for thirty days. Daniel keeps praying at his open window, is thrown to the lions, and is found unharmed the next morning.
Four beasts and the son of man
Daniel 7:1–28
Daniel sees four great beasts rising from the sea, followed by the Ancient of Days on his throne. One like a son of man receives an everlasting kingdom, an image later echoed in the Gospels.
A prayer and seventy weeks
Daniel 9:1–27
Reading Jeremiah's prophecy that the exile would last seventy years, Daniel confesses the sins of his people and prays for Jerusalem. The angel Gabriel answers with a message about seventy weeks, a passage interpreted in many different ways.
The final vision
Daniel 10:1–12:13
In the third year of Cyrus, Daniel sees a heavenly figure by the Tigris and receives a long vision of conflicts between kingdoms. The book ends with a promise of resurrection and a word that Daniel will rest and rise to receive his reward.
What does the name Daniel mean?
The Hebrew name Daniel is generally understood to mean God is my judge. In Babylon he was given the name Belteshazzar (Daniel 1:7), a Babylonian name usually linked with a prayer for the king's protection.
Key verses
“But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself.”
“and declared: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.”
“Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”
“My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.””
“Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.”
Verse text: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain.
What Daniel’s story shows
Faithful in a foreign place
Daniel learned Babylonian language and literature and served its kings well, yet kept his own convictions. His story is often read by people trying to live by their faith in settings that do not share it.
Quiet habits matter
What put Daniel in the lions' den was simply that he kept praying as he always had. The story suggests that steady daily practice can carry a person through a crisis.
Humility before power
Daniel gave credit to God rather than himself when he explained dreams, and he spoke honestly even to kings. The stories of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar warn about pride in those who hold power.
Hope beyond the present
The visions in the second half of the book look past the empires of the day to a kingdom that will not end. Many readers in hard times have found encouragement there.
When was the book of Daniel written?
Jewish and Christian tradition has long held that Daniel himself wrote the book during the exile in the 6th century BC. Many modern scholars instead date its final form to the 2nd century BC, around the persecution under the Greek king Antiochus IV, reading the visions as addressed to that crisis. Others defend an earlier date.
The book is also unusual in its language: from Daniel 2:4 to the end of chapter 7 it is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.
Daniel in different Bibles
In the Hebrew Bible, Daniel is placed among the Writings rather than the Prophets, while Christian Bibles group it with the prophets. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles also include additional passages found in Greek versions, such as the stories of Susanna and of Bel and the Dragon, which Protestant Bibles usually place in the Apocrypha.