Daniel 3:26-29

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  3:27 Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically ³  unharmed by the fire. ⁴  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!

3:28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ⁵  “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel ⁶  and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring ⁷  the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than ⁸  serve or pay homage to any god other than their God! 3:29 I hereby decree ⁹  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ¹⁰  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.

[3:27]  ³ tn Aram “in their bodies.”

[3:27]  ⁴ tn Aram “the fire did not have power.”

[3:28]  ⁵ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[3:28]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Aram “they changed” or “violated.”

[3:28]  ⁸ tn Aram “so that they might not.”

[3:29]  ⁹ tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”

[3:29]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “speaks negligence.”