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Daniel 3

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Nebuchadnezzar Erects a Golden Image 1–7

1
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. ​
2
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ​
3
Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
4
Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, ​
5
that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up; ​
6
and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ​
7
Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

The Three Hebrews Are Accused 8–12

8
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews. ​
9
They answered and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live for ever.
10
Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image;
11
and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
12
There are certain Jews whom thou hast appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. ​

The Fiery Furnace 13–18

13
Then Nebuchadnezzar inhisrage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king. ​
14
Nebuchadnezzar answered and said unto them, Is it of purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that ye serve not my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15
Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? ​
16
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. ​
17
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. ​
18
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. ​

Deliverance in the Fiery Furnace 19–27

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Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. ​
20
And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21
Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ​
22
Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. ​
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And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spake and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. ​
25
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods. ​
26
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire. ​
27
And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them. ​

The King Glorifies God 28–30

28
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. ​
29
Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort. ​
30
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Daniel 3

Verse 1

an image of gold — Tselem, the word used of the figure in ch.2 (2:31–32), where only the head was gold. This image is gold throughout, sixty cubits high and six wide, set up 'in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon'. Isa 46:6 describes how such gods are made: 'hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.'

Verse 2

the dedication of the image — Eight kinds of officials are summoned, from 'princes' to 'rulers of the provinces', and the list is repeated in v.3. Chanukka, 'dedication', is the word used of the house of God in Ezra 6:16–17. Four of these titles return in v.27, where the same officials 'saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power'.

Verse 4

an herald cried aloud — Karoz, a herald, a word found only here in Scripture. The command goes to 'people, nations, and languages', the phrase for the range of a Gentile throne in 4:1, 5:19 and 6:25. In 7:14 it describes the reach of the Son of man's rule: 'all people, nations, and languages, should serve him'.

Verse 5

cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer — Six named instruments and 'all kinds of musick' (zemar) give the signal. The list is repeated in vv.7, 10 and 15 (v.7 leaves out the dulcimer), and the harp (qitaros) has a Greek name. At the sound everyone must 'fall down and worship' (segid, the verb of 2:46) the golden image.

Verse 6

the same hour — Sha'ah, literally a moment: the penalty is immediate. The 'burning fiery furnace' (attun) is named again in vv.11, 15, 17, 20, 21, 23 and 26. Fire was a Babylonian punishment already known to the exiles: Jeremiah names Zedekiah and Ahab, 'whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire' (Jer 29:22).

Verse 8

accused the Jews — Literally they 'ate the pieces of' the Jews (akal qerats), an Aramaic idiom for slander, the same words used of Daniel's accusers in 6:24. 'Came near' (qereb) is how they approach the king again in 6:12, 'concerning the king's decree'. Kasday, 'Chaldeans', is also the name of the king's wise men in 2:2.

Verse 12

they serve not thy gods — The charge has three parts: they have not 'regarded' the king (sum te'em), they do not 'serve' his gods (palach, to serve or worship), and they do not 'worship' the image (segid). The accusers remind him that he 'set' these Jews over 'the affairs of the province of Babylon', the office Daniel had asked for them in 2:49.

Verse 13

rage and fury — Regaz, violent anger, and chema, heat of wrath; chema returns in v.19, 'full of fury'. The king commands that the three be brought to him, and he puts the question to them himself in vv.14–15.

Verse 15

who is that God that shall deliver you — Shezab, to deliver, the verb that decides the chapter: the three answer it in v.17, 'he will deliver us', and the king in v.28, 'delivered his servants', and v.29, 'no other God that can deliver'. Rabshakeh had asked the same of Judah's God: 'that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?' (2 Kgs 18:35).

Verse 16

we are not careful to answer thee — Chashach, to have need. 'Careful' is the KJV's older word for anxious: the three say they have no need to give an answer. They give their answer in vv.17–18, to the question of v.15.

Verse 17

our God whom we serve is able to deliver us — They answer the king's question in his own terms. 'Serve' is palach, the verb their accusers used in v.12, and 'deliver' is shezab, the verb of v.15. 'Out of thine hand, O king' answers 'out of my hands'. The statement of ability is separate from the statement of what they will do, which follows in v.18.

Verse 18

But if not — The two refusals repeat the charge of v.12: they 'will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image'. These are the two acts forbidden in the second commandment: 'Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them' (Ex 20:5), after 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' (Ex 20:3). Peter gives the same rule: 'We ought to obey God rather than men' (Acts 5:29).

Verse 19

the form of his visage was changed — Literally 'the image (tselem) of his face was changed', the same word as the golden image of v.1. Shena, to change, is the verb of 2:9 and 2:21, and of v.27, where 'neither were their coats changed'. The furnace is heated 'one seven times more' (chad shib'ah) than usual.

Verse 21

their coats, their hosen, and their hats — The Aramaic names for three of the garments (sarbal, pattish, karbela) are words of uncertain derivation, and the KJV renders them by English clothing. Along with 'their other garments' they were bound in them, and the 'coats' are named again in v.27: 'neither were their coats changed'.

Verse 22

the king's commandment was urgent — Chatsaph, hasty or severe, is the word of 2:15, 'Why is the decree so hasty from the king?' The heat kills (qetal) the soldiers who 'took up' the three, and not the three. Prov 11:8 states the pattern: 'The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.'

Verse 24

Did not we cast three men bound — Temah, to be amazed, and behal, in haste. The counsellors confirm the count: 'True, O king' (yatstsiv, certain), the word of 2:45, 'the dream is certain'. The king's question names two facts, 'three men' and 'bound' (kephath, as in v.21), and the counsellors confirm both.

Verse 25

the form of the fourth is like the Son of God — The king's words are bar elahin, literally 'a son of gods', and after the rescue he calls the figure God's 'angel' (v.28). Christians have read the fourth as the Son of God before his birth, others as an angel. Isa 43:2: 'when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned'. 'Loose' (shera) contrasts with 'bound'.

Verse 26

servants of the most high God — 'Most high God' (Elah illaya) is Abram's phrase in Gen 14:22 and Melchizedek's in 14:18, and the king uses it again in 4:2. The three were accused of not serving his gods (v.12), and he now calls them 'servants' (abad). His titles for God have risen from 'God of gods' (2:47) to this, and to 'the King of heaven' (4:37).

Verse 27

the fire had no power — The gathered 'princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors' of v.2 now see the evidence for themselves. The fire had no 'power' (shelet, the verb of 2:39, 'bear rule'), no hair singed, no coat changed, and 'the smell of fire had passed on them'. Heb 11:34 puts it as 'Quenched the violence of fire'.

Verse 28

sent his angel — The deliverance is attributed to the God who 'sent his angel', as in Ps 34:7: 'The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them'. Daniel says the same of the lions: 'My God hath sent his angel' (6:22). The three 'changed the king's word' and 'yielded their bodies' (gave them up) rather than serve (palach) another god.

Verse 29

cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill — The penalty of 2:5, once threatened to the wise men, now protects the God of the three. The decree leaves everyone his own gods and forbids only speaking 'amiss against' this one, 'because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort'. Compare Deut 32:31, 'their rock is not as our Rock'.

Verse 30

promoted — Tselach, to make prosper, the verb of 6:28, 'this Daniel prospered', and of Ezra 5:8. The three held the 'affairs of the province of Babylon' since 2:49 and 3:12; now they are advanced in it. It is the pattern of 1 Sam 2:30, 'them that honour me I will honour'.