Behold me! stirring up against them the Medes, - Who of silver, shall take no account, And as for gold, they shall not delight in it;

And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

Polish the arrows, Lay hold of the shields, - Yahweh hath roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, For against Babylon, his purpose is, to destroy her, - For it is, The avenging of Yahweh, The avenging of his temple.

P'res, - snatched away is thy kingdom, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Now, O king! wilt thou establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it may not be changed - according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be abolished,

Then drew they near, and began to speak before the king, concerning the royal interdict, Didst thou not sign, an interdict, that, any man who should petition of any God or man, for thirty days, save of thee, O king, should be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, Certain is the thing - according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be abolished.

Then, these men, crowded unto the king, - and were saying to the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that, no interdict nor statute which the king establisheth, may be changed.

In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, - who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judaea also and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,