Daniel, Apocryphal Additions To

DANIEL, APOCRYPHAL ADDITIONS TO [SMITH]

The Greek translations of Daniel contain several pieces which are not found int he original text. The most important are contained in the Apocrypha of the English Bible under the titles of The Son of the Three Holy Children, The History of Susannah, and The History of...Bel and the Dragon. The first of these is supposed to be the triumphal song of the three confessors in the furnace, (Daniel 3:23) praising God for their deliverance, of which a chief part (35-66) has been used as a hymn in the Christian Church since the fourth century. The second, called also The Judgment of Daniel , relates the story of the clearing of Susannah from a charge of adultery; and the third gives an exaggerated account of Daniel?s deliverance.