Break away from your sins by doing what is right: Righteousness and justice make a nation strong and help keep a king’s rule stable. When righteousness and justice are missing, a nation will fall. Daniel humbly pleaded with the king to change his ways.
showing mercy to the oppressed: This was required by God's law (Exodus 23:6–11; Deuteronomy 15:10–11; Proverbs 29:14; 31:9) and Babylon's. Hammurabi was a former great king of Babylon. He ruled from about 1792 to 1750 BC. Hammurabi claimed to have been charged by his god Marduk to shepherd and protect the orphaned, the widowed, and the oppressed.
Perhaps: Daniel understood that God could choose to act or not (compare Daniel 3:16–18). Because God is merciful, he might pity the condemned king (compare Exodus 32:30; 1 Samuel 14:6; 2 Samuel 12:22; Joel 2:14; Amos 5:15; Zephaniah 2:3; 2 Timothy 2:25).