The Book of Bel & the Dragon

The narrative of Bel and the Dragon is incorporated as chapter 14 of the extended Book of Daniel. The original Septuagint text in Greek survives in a single manuscript, Codex Chisianus, while the standard text is due to Theodotion, the 2nd-century AD revisor.

This chapter, along with chapter 13, is considered deuterocanonical: it was unknown to early Rabbinic Judaism, and while it is considered non-canonical by most Protestants, It is included in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Assyrian Church of the East bibles, and is found in the Apocrypha section of some Protestant Bibles.[1]

"Perhaps composed as early as the Persian period (539–333 BCE)".[2]

Summaries

Daniel, Bel and the Dragon (France, 15th century)

The chapter contains a single story which may previously have represented three separate narratives,[3][4][5] which place Daniel at the court of Cyrus, king of the Persians: "When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom."[6][7] There Daniel "was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends".[8] However, while Theodotion's Greek apparently dates the story to the time of Astyages, the Old Greek versions of the story do not specify this.[9] As such, the real identity of the king is up for debate. Some Bibles, such as the Douay-Rheims, use the more traditional identification of this king as being Evil-Merodach, or Amel-Marduk.[10][11] This identification is supported by the Scriptural Research Institute in their book Septuagint: Daniel, where they cited similarities between Amel-Marduk's reign and the account, namely that Amel-Marduk was the only king of Babylon to have seen religious riots during his reign.[12]

Bel

The narrative of Bel (Daniel 14:1–22) ridicules the worship of idols. The king asks Daniel, "You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?"[13] to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered by bronze and thus cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.

Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who enter through a secret door when the temple's doors are sealed.

The next morning, the king comes to inspect the test by observing from above. He sees that the food has been consumed and points out that the wax seals he put on the temple doors are unbroken, and offers a hosanna to Bel. Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple floor; which the king then realizes by seeing footprints, along with more slender ones and smaller ones, shows that women and children also participated in the gluttony. The priests of Bel are then arrested and, confessing their deed, reveal the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the "locked-room mystery".[14]

The dragon

According to the brief companion narrative of the dragon (Daniel 14:23–30), "there was a great dragon which the Babylonians revered".[15] Some time after the temple's condemnation the Babylonians worship the dragon. The king says that, unlike Bel, the dragon is a clear example of a live animal. Daniel promises to slay the dragon without the aid of a sword, and does so by baking pitch, fat, and hair (trichas) to make cakes (mazas, barley-cakes) that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption. In other variants, other ingredients serve the purpose: in a form known to the Midrash, straw was fed in which nails were hidden,[16] or skins of camels were filled with hot coals.[17] A similar story occurs in the Persian poet Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, where Alexander the Great, or "Iskandar", kills a dragon by feeding it cow hides stuffed with poison and tar.[18][19]

Earlier scholarship has suggested a parallel between this text and the contest between Marduk and Tiamat in Mesopotamian mythology, where the winds controlled by Marduk burst Tiamat open[20] and barley-cake plays the same role as the wind.[21] However, David DeSilva (2018) casts doubt on this reading.[22]

References

1. Apocrypha-KJV-Reader's. Hendrickson Publishers. 2009. ISBN 978-1-59856-464-8.
2. Levine, Amy-Jill (2010). "Bel and the Dragon". In Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The new Oxford annotated Bible : New Revised Standard Version : with the Apocrypha : an ecumenical study Bible (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1552. ISBN 978-0-19-528955-8. OCLC 457160381. Perhaps composed as early as the Persian period (539–333 BCE)
3. The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 1, p. 460, says of the second episode, "Although once an independent story, in its present form it is edited to follow the preceding tale;"
4. Daniel J. Harrington writes of Daniel 14:23–42: "This addition is a combination of three episodes" (Harrington, Invitation to the Apocrypha, p. 118);
5. Robert Doran writes, "The links between all the episodes in both versions are so pervasive that the narrative must be seen to be a whole. Such stories, of course, could theoretically have existed independently, but there is no evidence that they did." (Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 868).
6. Daniel 14:1, but Daniel 13:66 in the Vulgate
7. In the Greek version that has survived, the verb form parelaben is a diagnostic Aramaism, reflecting Aramaic qabbel which here does not mean "receive" but "succeed to the Throne" (F. Zimmermann, "Bel and the Dragon", Vetus Testamentum 8.4 (October 1958), p 440.
8. Daniel 14:2, but Daniel 14:1 in the Vulgate
9. Pietersma, Albert; Wright, Benjamin G., eds. (2007). A New English Translation of the Septuagint (PDF). New York / Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10. "Philologic Results".
11. "Daniel 14 – Haydock Commentary Online".
12. Abal, Daniel ben; Jesus, Habakkuk ben (1901). Septuagint: Daniel (Chisianus Version). Scriptural Research Institute. ISBN 978-1-990289-24-8.
13. Daniel 14:6, New American Bible
14. Westlake, Donald E. (1998). "The Locked Room". Murderous Schemes: An Anthology of Classic Detective Stories. Oxford University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-19-510487-5.
15. New American Bible, Daniel 14:23
16. Zimmermann 1958:438f, note 1 compares A. Neubauer, Book of Tobit (Oxford) 1878:43.
17. Zimmermann 1958:439, note 2 attests the Talmudic tractate Nedarim, ed. Krotoschin, (1866) 37d.
18. Zimmermann 1958:439, note 3 attests Spiegel, Iranische Altertümer II.293 and Theodor Nöldeke, Beiträge zur geschichte Alexanderromans (Vienna) 1890:22.
19. "Alexander the Great in Firdawsi's Book of Kings".
20. "Bel and the Dragon". Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. 1900s. pp. 650–1. Retrieved 6 August 2015.; Zimmermann 1958.
21. Zimmermann 1958:440.
22. DeSilva, David. Introducing the Apocrypha, 2nd Edition Message, Context, and Significance. Baker Academic, 2018, 250–263.

-Wiki-

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1. The Book of Bel & The Dragon. Alexander Scourby SYC. Audio >& Text - 2025.

https://youtu.be/3Xh7axC3dJ8?si=ozKADfd3ytpmNQW9

2. The Book of Bel & The Dragon. Christopher Glyn. Audio & Text - 2022. 

https://youtu.be/l14PaDs-TEM?si=t_fKjMKAVY7dU9hP

3. The Book of Bel & The Dragon. BTD-Analyzis. Audio & Text - 2025.

https://youtu.be/G3HxJasQX2E?si=cbKU7BNrtMLLYl9t

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Daniel and the Priests of Bel

14 When King Asty′ages was laid with his fathers, Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom. 2 And Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of his friends.

3 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they spent on it twelve bushels of fine flour and forty sheep and fifty gallons of wine. 4 The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God.

5 And the king said to him, "Why do you not worship Bel?" He answered, "Because I do not revere man-made idols, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all flesh."

6 The king said to him, "Do you not think that Bel is a living God? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?" 7 Then Daniel laughed, and said, "Do not be deceived, O king; for this is but clay inside and brass outside, and it never ate or drank anything."

8 Then the king was angry, and he called his priests and said to them, "If you do not tell me who is eating these provisions, you shall die. 9 But if you prove that Bel is eating them, Daniel shall die, because he blasphemed against Bel." And Daniel said to the king, "Let it be done as you have said."

10 Now there were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children. And the king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel. 11 And the priests of Bel said, "Behold, we are going outside; you yourself, O king, shall set forth the food and mix and place the wine, and shut the door and seal it with your signet. 12 And when you return in the morning, if you do not find that Bel has eaten it all, we will die; or else Daniel will, who is telling lies about us." 13 They were unconcerned, for beneath the table they had made a hidden entrance, through which they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions. 14 When they had gone out, the king set forth the food for Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring ashes and they sifted them throughout the whole temple in the presence of the king alone. Then they went out, shut the door and sealed it with the king's signet, and departed. 15 In the night the priests came with their wives and children, as they were accustomed to do, and ate and drank everything.

16 Early in the morning the king rose and came, and Daniel with him. 17 And the king said, "Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?" He answered, "They are unbroken, O king." 18 As soon as the doors were opened, the king looked at the table, and shouted in a loud voice, "You are great, O Bel; and with you there is no deceit, none at all."

19 Then Daniel laughed, and restrained the king from going in, and said, "Look at the floor, and notice whose footsteps these are." 20 The king said, "I see the footsteps of men and women and children."

21 Then the king was enraged, and he seized the priests and their wives and children; and they showed him the secret doors through which they were accustomed to enter and devour what was on the table. 22 Therefore the king put them to death, and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple.

Daniel Kills the Dragon

23 There was also a great dragon, which the Babylonians revered. 24 And the king said to Daniel, "You cannot deny that this is a living god; so worship him." 25 Daniel said, "I will worship the Lord my God, for he is the living God. 26 But if you, O king, will give me permission, I will slay the dragon without sword or club." The king said, "I give you permission."

27 Then Daniel took pitch, fat, and hair, and boiled them together and made cakes, which he fed to the dragon. The dragon ate them, and burst open. And Daniel said, "See what you have been worshiping!"

28 When the Babylonians heard it, they were very indignant and conspired against the king, saying, "The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and slain the dragon, and slaughtered the priests." 29 Going to the king, they said, "Hand Daniel over to us, or else we will kill you and your household." 30 The king saw that they were pressing him hard, and under compulsion he handed Daniel over to them.

Daniel in the Lions' Den

31 They threw Daniel into the lions' den, and he was there for six days. 32 There were seven lions in the den, and every day they had been given two human bodies and two sheep; but these were not given to them now, so that they might devour Daniel.

33 Now the prophet Hab′akkuk was in Judea. He had boiled pottage and had broken bread into a bowl, and was going into the field to take it to the reapers. 34 But the angel of the Lord said to Hab′akkuk, "Take the dinner which you have to Babylon, to Daniel, in the lions' den." 35 Hab′akkuk said, "Sir, I have never seen Babylon, and I know nothing about the den." 36 Then the angel of the Lord took him by the crown of his head, and lifted him by his hair and set him down in Babylon, right over the den, with the rushing sound of the wind itself.

37 Then Hab′akkuk shouted, "Daniel, Daniel! Take the dinner which God has sent you." 38 And Daniel said, "Thou hast remembered me, O God, and hast not forsaken those who love thee." 39 So Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of God immediately returned Hab′akkuk to his own place.

40 On the seventh day the king came to mourn for Daniel. When he came to the den he looked in, and there sat Daniel. 41 And the king shouted with a loud voice, "Thou art great, O Lord God of Daniel, and there is no other besides thee." 42 And he pulled Daniel[a] out, and threw into the den the men who had attempted his destruction, and they were devoured immediately before his eyes.

Footnotes

1. Bel and the Dragon 1:42 Gk him

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