6. Then the king continued, “You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?”
7. Daniel began to laugh. “Do not be deceived, O king,” he said; “it is only clay inside and bronze outside; it has never eaten or drunk anything.”
8. Enraged, the king called his priests and said to them, “Unless you tell me who it is that consumes these provisions, you shall die. But if you can show that Bel consumes them, Daniel shall die for blaspheming Bel.”
9. Daniel said to the king, “Let it be as you say!”There were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children.
10. When the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel,
11. the priests of Bel said, “See, we are going to leave. You, O king, set out the food and prepare the wine; then shut the door and seal it with your ring.
12. If you do not find that Bel has eaten it all when you return in the morning, we are to die; otherwise Daniel shall die for his lies against us.”
13. They were not perturbed, because under the table they had made a secret entrance through which they always came in to consume the food.
14. After they departed the king set the food before Bel, while Daniel ordered his servants to bring some ashes, which they scattered through the whole temple; the king alone was present. Then they went outside, sealed the closed door with the king’s ring, and departed.
15. The priests entered that night as usual, with their wives and children, and they ate and drank everything.
16. Early the next morning, the king came with Daniel.
17. “Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?” he asked. And Daniel answered, “They are unbroken, O king.”
18. As soon as he had opened the door, the king looked at the table and cried aloud, “You are great, O Bel; there is no deceit in you.”
19. But Daniel laughed and kept the king from entering. He said, “Look at the floor and consider whose footprints these are.”
20. “I see the footprints of men, women, and children!” said the king.
21. In his wrath the king arrested the priests, their wives, and their children. They showed him the secret door by which they used to enter to consume what was on the table.
22. The king put them to death, and handed Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.
23. There was a great dragon which the Babylonians revered.
24. The king said to Daniel, “You cannot deny that this is a living god, so worship it.”