PERES, Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

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.

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.

Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, there in front of the canal stood a [lone] ram (the Medo-Persian Empire) which had two horns. The two horns were high, but one (Persia) was higher than the other (Media), and the higher one came up last.

The ram which thou sawest with the two horns, is the king of the Medes and Persians:

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:

In year one of King Darius the Mede, I arose to fortify and strengthen him.'"

I, therefore, in the first year of Darius the Mede, was at my station to strengthen and embolden him;