Daniel 3:8

3:8 Now¹ at that time certain² Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against³ the Jews.

Daniel 6:11

6:11 Then those officials who had gone to the king⁴ came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God.

Daniel 3:13

3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage⁵ demanded that they bring⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them⁷ before the king.

Daniel 3:20-21

3:20 He ordered strong⁸ soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes,⁹ and were thrown into the furnace¹⁰ of blazing fire.

Daniel 3:23

3:23 But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace¹¹ of blazing fire while still securely bound.¹²

Daniel 6:5

6:5 So these men concluded,¹³ “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is¹⁴ in connection with the law of his God.”

Daniel 3:12

3:12 But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and these men¹⁵ 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.”

Daniel 2:25

2:25 So Arioch quickly ushered Daniel into the king’s presence, saying to him, “I¹⁶ have found a man from the captives of Judah who can make known the interpretation to the king.”

Daniel 3:22

3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted¹⁷ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed¹⁸ by the leaping flames.¹⁹

Daniel 3:24-25

God Delivers His Servants

3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw²⁰ into²¹ the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.” 3:25 He 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!”²²

Daniel 3:27

3:27 Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically²³ unharmed by the fire.²⁴ 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!

Daniel 5:11

5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have²⁵ insight, discernment, and wisdom like that²⁶ of the gods.²⁷ King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners.²⁸

Daniel 6:15

6:15 Then those men came by collusion to the king and²⁹ said to him,³⁰ “Recall,³¹ O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or decree that the king issues can be changed.”

Daniel 6:24

6:24 The king gave another order,³² and those men who had maliciously accused³³ Daniel were brought and thrown³⁴ into the lions’ den – they, their children, and their wives.³⁵ They did not even reach the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

¹tc This expression is absent in Theodotion.

²tn Aram “men.”

³tn Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.

⁴tn Aram “those men”; the referent (the administrative officials who had earlier approached the king about the edict) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷tn Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.

⁸tn The Aramaic infinitive is active.

⁹tn Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.

¹⁰tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”

¹³sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

¹⁴tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

¹⁶tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

¹⁷sn 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.

¹⁹tn Aram “were saying.”

²⁰tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”

²²sn 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.

²⁵sn Arioch’s claim is self-serving and exaggerated. It is Daniel who came to him, and not the other way around. By claiming to have found one capable of solving the king’s dilemma, Arioch probably hoped to ingratiate himself to the king.

²⁸tn Aram “caused to go up.”

²⁹tn The Aramaic verb is active.

³⁰tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”

³¹tn Aram “we threw…bound.”

³²tn Aram “into the midst of.”

³⁴sn 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.”

³⁷tn Aram “in their bodies.”

³⁸tn Aram “the fire did not have power.”

⁴⁰tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

⁴¹tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

⁴²tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

⁴³tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.

⁴³tc Theodotion lacks the words “came by collusion to the king and.”

⁴⁴tn Aram “the king.”

⁴⁵tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”

⁴⁶tn Aram “said.”

⁴⁷tn Aram “had eaten the pieces of.” The Aramaic expression is ironic, in that the accusers who had figuratively “eaten the pieces of Daniel” are themselves literally devoured by the lions.

⁴⁸tn The Aramaic active impersonal verb is often used as a substitute for the passive.

⁴⁹tc The LXX specifies only the two overseers, together with their families, as those who were cast into the lions’ den.