“Family of Jacob, listen to me! All you people from Israel that are still alive, listen! I have been carrying you. I have carried you since the time you were in your mother’s body.
So King Darius gave the order. They brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den (cage). The king said to Daniel, “I hope the God you worship saves you!”
Truly in our own hearts we believed that we would die. But this happened so that we would not trust in ourselves. It happened so that we would trust in God, who raises people from death.
To some people we are not known (not important), but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but look! We continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed.
We hope in the living God. He is the Savior of all people. And in a special way, he is the Savior of all those people who believe in him. This is why we work and struggle.
But the Lord stayed with me. The Lord gave me strength so that I could tell the Good News {\cf2\super [23]} everywhere. The Lord wanted all the non-Jews to hear that Good News. So I was saved from the lion’s (enemy’s) mouth.
\{Yes, God did all these things.\} So the Lord \{God\} will always save the people who serve him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people and punish them while waiting for the day of judgment.
After this, Samuel set up a special stone. {He did this to help people remember the things God did.} Samuel put the stone between Mizpah and Shen. [87] Samuel named the stone “Stone of Help.” [88] Samuel said, “The Lord helped us all the way to this place!”