^3:1¹ King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden² statue made.³ It was ninety feet⁴ tall and nine feet⁵ wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. ^3:2Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates,⁶ and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he⁷ had erected. ^3:3So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.⁸

^3:4Then the herald⁹ made a loud¹⁰ proclamation: “To you, O peoples, nations, and language groups, the following command is given:¹¹^3:5When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither,¹² trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must¹³ bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected. ^3:6Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately¹⁴ be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!” ^3:7Therefore when they all¹⁵ heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes,¹⁶ and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and language groups began bowing down and paying homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.

^3:8Now¹⁷ at that time certain¹⁸ Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against¹⁹ the Jews. ^3:9They said²⁰ to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!²¹^3:10You have issued an edict, O king, that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music. ^3:11And whoever does not bow down and pay homage must be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. ^3:12But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—and these men²² have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don’t serve your gods and they don’t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

^3:13Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage²³ demanded that they bring²⁴ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them²⁵ before the king. ^3:14Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and that you don’t pay homage to the golden statue that I erected? ^3:15Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?”²⁶^3:16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar,²⁷ “We do not need to give you a reply²⁸ concerning this. ^3:17If²⁹ our God whom we are serving exists,³⁰ he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. ^3:18But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

^3:19Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed³¹ toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders³² to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated. ^3:20He ordered strong³³ soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. ^3:21So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes,³⁴ and were thrown into the furnace³⁵ of blazing fire. ^3:22But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted³⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed³⁷ by the leaping flames.³⁸^3:23But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace³⁹ of blazing fire while still securely bound.⁴⁰

God Delivers His Servants

^3:24Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw⁴¹ into⁴² the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.” ^3:25He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!”⁴³^3:26Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He called out,⁴⁴ “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!”

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire.⁴⁵^3:27Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically⁴⁶ unharmed by the fire.⁴⁷ The hair of their heads was not singed, nor were their trousers damaged. Not even the smell of fire was to be found on them!

^3:28Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed,⁴⁸ “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel⁴⁹ and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring⁵⁰ the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than⁵¹ serve or pay homage to any god other than their God! ^3:29I hereby decree⁵² that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes⁵³ the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.” ^3:30Then Nebuchadnezzar⁵⁴ promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

^{4:1 (3:31)}¹ “King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and language groups that live in all the land: Peace and prosperity!²^4:2I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

^4:3“How great are his signs!

How mighty are his wonders!

His kingdom will last forever,³

and his authority continues from one generation to the next.”

Read in Logos

Daniel 3:17: If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

Footnotes

1 The introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8). However, there seems to be no real basis for associating the events of Daniel 3 with this date.
2 There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3–4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.
3 According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.
4 Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.
5 Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide. The dimensions of the image (ninety feet high and nine feet wide) imply that it did not possess normal human proportions, unless a base for the image is included in the height dimension. The ancient world knew of other tall statues. For example, the Colossus of Rhodes—the huge statue of Helios which stood ( 280–224 b.c.) at the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—was said to be seventy cubits (105 ft or 32 m) in height, which would make it even taller than Nebuchadnezzar’s image.
6 The specific duties of the seven types of officials listed here (cf. vv. 3, 27) are unclear. The Aramaic words that are used are transliterations of Akkadian or Persian technical terms whose exact meanings are uncertain. The translations given here follow suggestions set forth in .
7 Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 The and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”
9 According to 1097 כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation ( *כָּרוֹז).
10 Aram “in strength.”
11 Aram “they are saying.”
12 The word zither (Aramaic קִיתָרוֹס [qitaros]), and the words for harp (Aramaic פְּסַנְתֵּרִין [pésanterin]) and pipes (Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה [sumponéyah]), are of Greek derivation. Though much has been made of this in terms of suggesting a date in the Hellenistic period for the writing of the book, it is not surprising that a few Greek cultural terms, all of them the names of musical instruments, should appear in this book. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the bigger surprise (if, in fact, the book is to be dated to the Hellenistic period) may be that there are so few Greek loanwords in Daniel.
13 The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.
14 Aram “in that hour.”
15 Aram “all the peoples.”
16 Though not in the Aramaic text of , this word appears in many medieval Hebrew , some , and . Cf. vv. 5, 10, 15.
17 This expression is absent in Theodotion.
18 Aram “men.”
19 Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.
20 Aram “answered and said,” a common Aramaic idiom that occurs repeatedly in this chapter.
21 O king, live forever! is a comment of typical court courtesy that is not necessarily indicative of the real sentiments of the speaker. Ancient oriental court protocol could sometimes require a certain amount of hypocrisy.
22 Daniel’s absence from this scene has sparked the imagination of commentators, some of whom have suggested that perhaps he was unable to attend the dedication due to sickness or due to being away on business. Hippolytus supposed that Daniel may have been watching from a distance.
23 Aram “in anger and wrath”; “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.
24 The Aramaic infinitive is active.
25 Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.
26 Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.
27 In the this word is understood to begin the following address (“answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar’ ”). However, it seems unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar’s subordinates would address the king in such a familiar way, particularly in light of the danger that they now found themselves in. The present translation implies moving the atnach from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”
28 Aram “to return a word to you.”
29 The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.
30 The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is … able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. , , , ). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God … exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.
31 Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. “his face became distorted with rage”; “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”
32 Aram “he answered and said.”
33 This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”
34 There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.
35 Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
36 Aram “caused to go up.”
37 The Aramaic verb is active.
38 Aram “the flame of the fire” (so , , ); “the raging flames.”
39 Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
40 The deuterocanonical writings known as The Prayer of Azariah and The Song of the Three present at this point a confession and petition for God’s forgiveness and a celebration of God’s grace for the three Jewish youths in the fiery furnace. Though not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel, these compositions do appear in the ancient Greek versions.
41 Aram “we threw … bound.”
42 Aram “into the midst of.”
43 The phrase like that of a god is in Aramaic “like that of a son of the gods.” Many patristic writers understood this phrase in a christological sense (i.e., “the Son of God”). But it should be remembered that these are words spoken by a pagan who is seeking to explain things from his own polytheistic frame of reference; for him the phrase “like a son of the gods” is equivalent to “like a divine being.”
44 Aram “answered and said.”
45 Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
46 Aram “in their bodies.”
47 Aram “the fire did not have power.”
48 Aram “answered and said.”
49 The king identifies the “son of the gods” (v. 25) as an angel. Comparable Hebrew expressions are used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for the members of God’s angelic assembly (see Gen 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss 29:1; 89:6). An angel later comes to rescue Daniel from the lions (Dan 6:22).
50 Aram “they changed” or “violated.”
51 Aram “so that they might not.”
52 Aram “from me is placed an edict.”
53 Aram “speaks negligence.”
54 Aram “and the king.” The proper name has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
1 Beginning with 4:1, the verse numbers through 4:37 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Aramaic text (), with 4:1 = 3:31 , 4:2 = 3:32 , 4:3 = 3:33 , 4:4 = 4:1 , etc., through 4:37 = 4:34 . Thus Dan 3:31–33 of the Aramaic text appears as Dan 4:1–3 in the English Bible, and the corresponding verses of ch. 4 differ accordingly. In spite of the division of the Aramaic text, a good case can be made that 3:31–33 (= 4:1–3 ) is actually the introduction to ch. 4.
2 Aram “May your peace increase!”
3 Aram “his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”