Daniel 3:26

3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He called out, ¹  “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!”

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire. ² 

Daniel 1:7

1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ³  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ⁴ 

Daniel 3:16

3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ⁵  “We do not need to give you a reply ⁶  concerning this.

Daniel 3:23

3:23 But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace ⁷  of blazing fire while still securely bound. ⁸ 

Daniel 3:14

3:14 Nebuchadnezzar 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?

Daniel 3:19

3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed ⁹  toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders ¹⁰  to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated.

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 men ¹¹  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 3:28-29

3:28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ¹²  “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel ¹³  and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring ¹⁴  the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than ¹⁵  serve or pay homage to any god other than their God! 3:29 I hereby decree ¹⁶  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ¹⁷  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.”

[3:26]  ¹ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[3:26]  ² tn Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[1:7]  ³ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

[1:7]  ⁴ sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.

[3:16]  ⁵ tc In the MT 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.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Aram “to return a word to you.”

[3:23]  ⁷ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[3:23]  ⁸ sn 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.

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “he answered and said.”

[3:12]  ¹¹ sn 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.

[3:28]  ¹³ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[3:28]  ¹⁴ sn 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).

[3:28]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “they changed” or “violated.”

[3:28]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “so that they might not.”

[3:29]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”

[3:29]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “speaks negligence.”