¹³ Then they responded and spoke before the king, “^(A)Daniel, who is one of the ^[a]exiles from Judah, pays ^(B)no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps offering his prayer three times a day.”

¹⁴ Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply ^(C)distressed, and set his mind on rescuing Daniel; and until sunset he kept exerting himself to save him. ¹⁵ Then these men came ^[b]by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Recognize, O king, that it is a ^(D)law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”