1 Samuel 5:3

5:3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, ¹  Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.

Jeremiah 10:5

10:5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field.

They cannot talk.

They must be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them

because they cannot hurt you.

And they do not have any power to help you.” ² 

Daniel 3:1

Daniel’s Friends Are Tested

3:1 ³ King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden ⁴  statue made. ⁵  It was ninety feet ⁶  tall and nine feet ⁷  wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

¹ tc The LXX adds “they entered the temple of Dagon and saw.”

² tn Heb “And it is not in them to do good either.”

³ sn The LXX 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.

⁴ sn 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.

⁵ sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.

⁶ tn Aram “sixty cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.

⁷ tn Aram “six cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.