Daniel 3:6

3:6 Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately ¹  be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!”

Daniel 3:15-17

3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ²  3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ³  “We do not need to give you a reply ⁴  concerning this. 3:17 If ⁵  our God whom we are serving exists, ⁶  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Daniel 3:21-22

3:21 So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, ⁷  and were thrown into the furnace ⁸  of blazing fire. 3:22 But since the king’s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted ⁹  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed ¹⁰  by the leaping flames. ¹¹ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Aram “in that hour.”

[3:15]  ² tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.

[3:16]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Aram “to return a word to you.”

[3:17]  ⁵ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ⁶ tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[3:21]  ⁷ sn There is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the specific nature of these items of clothing.

[3:21]  ⁸ tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.

[3:22]  ⁹ tn Aram “caused to go up.”

[3:22]  ¹⁰ tn The Aramaic verb is active.

[3:22]  ¹¹ tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”