Then the king was glad. He gave to his servants orders to take Daniel out of the den. Daniel was brought out safe and without harm, because he had trusted fully in the Lord God. Then by the king's command, they brought those men who had spoken against Daniel, and with them their wives and their children, for the king was exceedingly angry with them. They were all thrown into the den, and the hungry lions leaped upon them, and tore them in pieces, so soon as they fell upon the floor of the den. After this king Darius wrote to all the lands and the peoples in the many kingdoms under his rule: "May peace be given to you all abundantly! I make a law that everywhere among my kingdoms men fear and worship the Lord God of Daniel; for he is the living God, above all other gods, who only can save men." And Daniel stood beside king Darius until the end of his reign, and afterward while Cyrus the Persian was king over all the lands. THE STORY OF THE ANGEL BY THE ALTAR At the time when the story of the New Testament begins, the land of Israel, called also the land of Judea, was ruled by a king named Herod. He was the first of several Herods, who at different times ruled either the whole of the land, or parts of it. But Herod was not the highest ruler. Many years before this time, the Romans, who came from the city of Rome in Italy, had won all the lands around the Great Sea, the sea which we call the Mediterranean; and above king Herod of Judea was the great king of Rome, ruling over all the lands, and over the land of Judea among them. So Herod, though king of Judea, obeyed his overlord, the emperor at Rome. At the time when this story begins, the emperor at Rome was named Augustus Caesar. At this time, the land where the Jews lived was full of people. Jerusalem was its largest city, and in Jerusalem was standing the Temple of the Lord, which king Herod had lately built anew, taking the place of the old Temple built very many years before, which had long needed repair. There were also many other large cities besides Jerusalem. In the south was Hebron among the mountains; on the shore of the Great Sea were Gaza, and Joppa, and Caesarea; in the middle of the land were Shechem and Samaria; and in the north were Nazareth, and Cana; down by the shore of the Sea of Galilee were Tiberias, and Capernaum, and Bethsaida. Far up in the north, at the foot of snowy Mount Hermon, was another Caesarea; but so that it might not be confused with Caesarea upon the seacoast this city was called Caesarea-Philippi, or "Philip's Caesarea," from the name of one of Herod's sons. One day, an old priest named Zacharias was leading the service of worship in the Temple. He was standing in front of the golden altar of incense, in the Holy Place, and was holding in his hand a censer, or cup, full of burning coals and incense; while all the people were worshipping in the court of the Temple, outside the court of the Priests, where the great altar of burnt-offering stood.