Daniel 6:14 (DBY)

Passage

Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore distressed thereby, and set his heart on Daniel to save him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

Nearby Context

Daniel 6:12 Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree: Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask [anything] of any god or man within thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

Daniel 6:13 Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

Daniel 6:14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore distressed thereby, and set his heart on Daniel to save him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

Daniel 6:15 Then these men came in a body unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

Daniel 6:16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast [him] into the den of lions. The king spoke and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will save thee.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "king", "heard", "words", "sore", "distressed", "thereby", "heart", and "daniel". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "king" and "heard", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "Then they answered and said before the..." into verse 15's "Then these men came in a body...", so "king" and "heard" belong inside that flow. In Daniel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "king" and "heard" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.