Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire. 3
3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage 10 demanded that they bring 11 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them 12 before the king.
3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and his disposition changed 16 toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders 17 to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated.
3:28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, 24 “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel 25 and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring 26 the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than 27 serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!
1 tn Aram “and the king.” The proper name has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Aram “answered and said.”
3 tn Aram “from the midst of the fire.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
4 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.”
5 tn Aram “to return a word to you.”
6 tn Aram “into the midst of the furnace.” For stylistic reasons the words “the midst of” have been left untranslated.
7 sn The deuterocanonical writings known as The Prayer of Azariah and The Song of the Three present at this point a confession and petition for God’s forgiveness and a celebration of God’s grace for the three Jewish youths in the fiery furnace. Though not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel, these compositions do appear in the ancient Greek versions.
8 tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.
9 sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.
10 tn Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.
11 tn The Aramaic infinitive is active.
12 tn Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.
13 tn This is sometimes taken as a comparative: “[some of the] strongest.”
14 tn Aram “and Daniel sought from the king and he appointed.”
15 tn Aram “was at the gate of the king.”
16 tn Aram “the appearance of his face was altered”; cf. NLT “his face became distorted with rage”; NAB “[his] face became livid with utter rage.”
17 tn Aram “he answered and said.”
18 tn Aram “caused to go up.”
19 tn The Aramaic verb is active.
20 tn Aram “the flame of the fire” (so KJV, ASV, NASB); NRSV “the raging flames.”
21 tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”
22 tn Aram “speaks negligence.”
23 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.
24 tn Aram “answered and said.”
25 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).
26 tn Aram “they changed” or “violated.”
27 tn Aram “so that they might not.”