In the morning betimes the king arose, and Daniel with him.  As soon as the door was opened, the king looked upon the table, and cried with a loud voice:  Great art thou, O Bel, and with thee is no deceit at all.  Then laughed Daniel, and said:  Behold the pavement, and mark well whose footsteps are these.  And the king saw the footsteps of men, women, and children, and was angry when he was shown the privy doors where they came in and consumed such things as were upon the table.  Therefore the king slew them, and delivered Bel into Daniel’s power, who destroyed the idol and the temple.

In the same place there was a great dragon, which they of Babylon worshipped.  The king said to Daniel:  Lo! this dragon liveth, eateth, drinketh; thou canst not say that he is no living god; therefore worship him.  Then said Daniel:  I will worship the Lord, for he is the living God.  But give me leave, O king, and I shall slay this dragon without sword or staff.

The king gave him leave, and Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and did seethe them together, and made lumps thereof.  These he put in the dragon’s mouth, and the dragon burst in sunder.  Then Daniel said:  Lo, these are the gods ye worship!

When they of Babylon heard that, they conspired against the king, saying:  The king is become a Jew.  So they came to the king, and said:  Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thine house.  Being sore constrained, the king delivered Daniel unto them, and they cast him into the lions’ den, where he was six days, during which the seven lions were given no carcases, to the intent that they might devour Daniel.

Now, there was in Jewry a prophet called Habakkuk who made pottage and broken bread to take to the reapers in the field.  An Angel of the Lord said unto Habakkuk:  Go, carry the dinner that thou hast into Babylon unto Daniel, who is in the lions’ den.  And Habakkuk said:  Lord, I never saw Babylon; neither do I know where the den is.  Then the Angel of the Lord took Habakkuk by the crown, and bare him by the hair of his head, and through the vehemency of his spirit set him in Babylon over the den.  And Habakkuk cried:  O Daniel, take the dinner which God has sent thee.  And Daniel said:  Thou hast remembered me, O God:  neither hast thou forsaken them that seek thee and love thee.  So Daniel arose, and did eat:  And the Angel of the Lord set Habakkuk in his own place immediately.  Upon the seventh day the king went to bewail Daniel; and when he came to the den, behold, Daniel was sitting.  Then cried the king with a loud voice, saying:  Great art thou, O Lord God of Daniel, and there is none other besides thee.  And he drew Daniel out, and cast those that were the cause of his suffering into the den; and they were devoured by the lions in a moment before his face.

THE PRAYER OF MANASSES

The Prayer of Manasses, King of Juda, when he was holden captive in Babylon, is an enumeration of the attributes of the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed; a general confession of sins; and an entreaty that God would show him great mercy and goodness, forgive him, and condemn him not into the lower parts of the earth.  Therefore, he would praise the Lord for ever, all the days of his life.