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?

<p class="bodytext">Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed<n id="1" /> toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders<n id="2" /> to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated.

But since the king&#8217;s command was so urgent, and the furnace was so excessively hot, the men who escorted<n id="1" /> Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were killed<n id="2" /> by the leaping flames.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects<n id="1" /> his master. If I am your<n id="2" /> father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, &#8216;How have we made light of your name?&#8217;

But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon &#8211; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego &#8211; and these men<n id="1" /> have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don&#8217;t serve your gods and they don&#8217;t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel<n id="2" /> and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring<n id="3" /> the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than<n id="4" /> serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!

I hereby decree<n id="1" /> that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes<n id="2" /> 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.&#8221;