Daniel 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 King Nebuchadnezzar had a gold statue made that was sixty cubits tall and six cubits wide. He had it set up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
2 Then he summoned the provincial governors, prefects, local governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up.
2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
3 They all came to the dedication of the statue Nebuchadnezzar had set up and stood in front of it.
3 Then the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
4 Then a herald announced in a loud voice, “People of all nations and languages, pay attention to the king's command!
4 Then the herald cried aloud, “To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages,
5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of musical instruments, you must fall to the ground and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
5 that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up.
6 Anyone who doesn't immediately fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”
6 Whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace the same hour.”
7 So when all the people heard the sound of the musical instruments they all fell down—the people of all nations and languages worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
8 Right then some of the astrologers came forward and made accusations against the Jews.
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and brought accusation against the Jews.
9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May Your Majesty the king live forever!
9 They answered Nebuchadnezzar the king, “O king, live for ever!
10 Your Majesty has decreed that everyone who hears the sound of the musical instruments shall fall down and worship the gold statue,
10 You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image;
11 and that anyone who does not shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.
11 and whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace.
12 But there are some Jews that you placed in charge of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—who pay no attention to Your Majesty's decree. They do not serve your gods and will not worship the gold statue you set up.”
12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not respected you. They don’t serve your gods, and don’t worship the golden image which you have set up.”
13 This made Nebuchadnezzar absolutely furious. “Bring me Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!” he demanded. So they were brought before the king.
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. Then these men were brought before the king.
14 “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are you deliberately refusing to serve my gods and worship the gold statue I set up?” asked the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar answered them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and you don’t worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 “Are you ready now to fall down and worship the statue I had made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments? If you don't, you will be immediately thrown into the furnace of blazing fire, and there's no god who can save you from my power!”
15 Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 “King Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves before you over this,” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
17 “If our God whom we serve so wishes, he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire. He will save us from your power, Your Majesty.
17 If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But even if he does not, Your Majesty needs to know that we would never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
19 This made Nebuchadnezzar so angry with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face twisted in rage. “Make the furnace seven times hotter than normal!” he ordered.
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
20 Then he commanded some of his strongest soldiers, “Tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the furnace of blazing fire!”
20 He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21 So they were tied up, fully dressed in their coats, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.
21 Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the burning fiery furnace.
22 Because the king's command was so harsh in making the furnace so extremely hot, the flames killed the soldiers who threw them in.
22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still tied up, fell into the furnace of blazing fire.
23 These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar suddenly jumped up in amazement. “Didn't we throw three men tied up into the furnace?” he asked his advisors. “Yes, that's right, Your Majesty,” they replied.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his counselors, “Didn’t we cast three men bound into the middle of the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.”
25 “Look!” he cried out. “How is it that I can see four men, not tied up, walking around in the fire and not being burned? And the fourth one looks like a god!”
25 He answered, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
26 Nebuchadnezzar went towards the door of the furnace of blazing fire. “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” he shouted. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the middle of the fire.
27 The provincial governors, prefects, local governors, and the king's advisors gathered around them and saw that the fire had not harmed them. Their hair wasn't singed, their clothes weren't scorched—there wasn't even the smell of smoke!
27 The local governors, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies. The hair of their head wasn’t singed. Their pants weren’t changed. The smell of fire wasn’t even on them.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and he rescued his servants who trusted in him! They disobeyed my royal command, putting their lives on the line, and refused to worship any other gods except their God.
28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God.
29 Consequently I am issuing a decree that if anyone of any nation or language speaks disrespectfully about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego they will be torn to pieces and their houses will be destroyed. There is no other God who is able to save like this!”
29 Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything evil against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.”
30 Then Nebuchadnezzar promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, giving them even greater responsibilities in the province of Babylon.
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Jeremiah 16:20; Habakkuk 2:19; Isaiah 46:6; Hosea 8:4; Acts 19:26
- 2 Daniel 3:27; Proverbs 29:12; Daniel 6:1–4; Exodus 32:4–6; Daniel 6:6–7
- 3 Revelation 17:17; Revelation 17:13; Revelation 13:13–16; Romans 1:21–28; Romans 3:11
- 4 Daniel 6:25; Daniel 4:1; Micah 6:16; Daniel 4:14; Hosea 5:11
- 5 Daniel 3:15; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:7
- 6 Matthew 13:50; Matthew 13:42; Jeremiah 29:22; Daniel 3:15; Daniel 3:11
- 7 1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 13:3; Revelation 17:8
- 8 Ezra 4:12–16; Daniel 6:12–13; Esther 3:8–9; Daniel 2:10; Acts 16:20–22
- 9 Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:6; Daniel 6:21; Daniel 2:4; Daniel 3:4–5
- 10 Daniel 3:4–7; Esther 3:12–14; Daniel 6:12; Psalm 94:20; Exodus 1:22
- 12 Daniel 6:13; Daniel 2:49; Acts 17:7; Proverbs 27:4; 1 Samuel 18:7–11
- 13 Daniel 3:19; Daniel 2:12; Esther 3:5–6; 1 Samuel 20:30–33; Proverbs 17:12
- 14 Jeremiah 50:2; Daniel 3:1; Isaiah 46:1; Daniel 4:8; Exodus 21:13–14
- 15 Acts 5:29; 2 Chronicles 32:15–17; Daniel 3:17; Exodus 5:2; 2 Kings 18:35
- 16 Daniel 1:7; Daniel 3:12
- 17 Romans 8:31; Luke 1:37; Hebrews 7:25; Psalm 27:1–2; Isaiah 26:3–4
- 18 Acts 5:29–32; Matthew 10:39; Revelation 2:10–11; Matthew 10:32–33; Luke 12:3–9
- 19 Daniel 3:13; Leviticus 26:24; Leviticus 26:28; Proverbs 21:24; Acts 5:33
- 20 Acts 16:25; Daniel 3:15; Acts 16:23; Acts 12:4–5
- 22 Proverbs 11:8; Proverbs 21:18; Acts 12:19; Matthew 27:5; Daniel 6:24
- 23 Jeremiah 38:6; Daniel 6:16–17; Psalm 34:19; Psalm 124:1–5; Psalm 66:11–12
- 24 Daniel 6:22; Daniel 6:7; Acts 26:13; Daniel 3:17; Daniel 3:9–10
- 25 Isaiah 43:2; Acts 28:5; Mark 16:18; Psalm 91:3–9; Job 1:6
- 26 Daniel 3:17; Daniel 4:2; Revelation 19:5; Isaiah 52:12; Genesis 14:18
- 27 Isaiah 43:2; Hebrews 11:34; Isaiah 26:11; Psalm 83:18; Matthew 10:30
- 28 Romans 14:7–8; Psalm 34:7–8; Psalm 84:11–12; Exodus 20:5; Revelation 12:11
- 29 Daniel 2:5; Daniel 6:26–27; Psalm 76:10; Deuteronomy 32:31; Ezra 6:11
- 30 1 Samuel 2:30; Daniel 2:49; Daniel 3:12; Psalm 91:14; John 12:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… seen with those who were around Ananias, Azarias, Mishael, as present with them in the furnace of fire, in the burning, and preserving them from [the effects of] fire: "And the appearance of the fourth," it is said, "was like to the Son of God." At another time [He is represented as] "a stone cut out of the mountain without …
Let us fear that death which the three men feared when they said to the king, "God is able to deliver us even from that flame; and if not," etc. There was there the fear of that death which the Lord now threatens, when they said, But also if He be not willing openly to deliver us, He can crown …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
… willing even to permit them to be burnt; lest, if this should come to pass, they might seem to be speaking falsehoods; they add this also and say, "If this happen not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we serve not thy gods." For had they said, "Sins are the cause of His not delivering us, should He …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
and, lo, I do see four walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth is like the Son of God." Neither the nature of any created thing, therefore, nor the weakness of the flesh, can prevail against the will of God.
And who else save the three men Ananias, Azariah, and Mishael, ever walked about unharmed in flames that blazed and did not burn?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)