Daniel 3:8

3:8 Now ¹  at that time certain ²  Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against ³  the Jews.

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 threw ⁴  into ⁵  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!” ⁶ 

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 ⁷  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.”

[3:8]  ¹ tc This expression is absent in Theodotion.

[3:8]  ² tn Aram “men.”

[3:8]  ³ tn Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.

[3:24]  ⁴ tn Aram “we threw…bound.”

[3:24]  ⁵ tn Aram “into the midst of.”

[3:25]  ⁷ sn 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.”

[3:12]  ¹⁰ 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.