Dan 3

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Nabuchodnosor builds a statue of gold

1 King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold, of sixty cubits high, and six cubits broad, and he set it up in the plain of Dura, of the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nabuchodonosor, the king, sent to call together the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, the rulers, and governors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the statue which King Nabuchodonosor had set up. 3 Then the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, and rulers, and the great men that were placed in authority, and all the princes of the provinces, were gathered together to come to the dedication of the statue, which King Nabuchodonosor had set up. And they stood before the statue which King Nabuchodonosor had set up.

All are commanded to adore the statue

4 Then a herald cried with a strong voice: To you it is commanded, O nations, tribes and languages: 5 That in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of all kind of music, you fall down and adore the golden statue which King Nabuchodonosor has set up. 6 But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire. 7 Upon this, therefore, at the time when all the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, all the nations, tribes, and languages fell down and adored the golden statue which King Nabuchodonosor had set up.

8 And presently at that very time some Chaldeans came and accused the Jews, 9 and said to King Nabuchodonosor: O king, live for ever: 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, shall prostrate himself, and adore the golden statue: 11 And that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be cast into a furnace of burning fire. 12 Now there are certain Jews, whom you have set over the works of the province of Babylon, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago: these men, O king, have slighted your decree: they worship not your gods, nor do they adore the golden statue which you have set up.

Sidrach, Mishach, and Abednago are threatened

13 Then Nabuchodonosor in fury, and in wrath, commanded that Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago should be brought: who immediately were brought before the king. 14 And Nabuchodonosor, the king, spoke to them, and said: Is it true, O Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the golden statue that I have set up? 15 Now, therefore, if you be ready, at what hour soever, you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, and symphony, and of all kind of music, prostrate yourselves, and adore the statue which I have made: but if you do not adore, you shall be cast the same hour into the furnace of burning fire: and who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hand?

They refuse to adore the king's statue

16 Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, answered, and said to King Nabuchodonosor: We have no occasion to answer you concerning this matter. 17 For behold our God, whom we worship, is able to save us from the furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of your hands, O king. 18 But if he will not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not worship your gods, nor adore the golden statue which you have set up.

The three are cast into a fiery furnace

19 Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. 20 And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. 21 And immediately these men were bound, and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. 22 For the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. 23 But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire.

Azarias prays amidst the flames

24 And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God, and blessing the Lord. 25 Then Azarias standing up, prayed in this manner, and opening his mouth in the midst of the fire, he said: 26 Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and your name is worthy of praise, and glorious for ever:

God's justice praised

27 For you are just in all that you have done to us, and all your works are true, and your ways right, and all your judgments true. 28 For you have executed true judgments in all the things that you have brought upon us, and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers: for according to truth and judgment, you have brought all these things upon us for our sins. 29 For we have sinned, and committed iniquity, departing from you: and we have trespassed in all things: 30 And we have not hearkened to your commandments, nor have we observed nor done as you had commanded us, that it might go well with us. 31 Wherefore, all that you have brought upon us, and everything that you have done to us, you have done in true judgment: 32 And you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies that are unjust, and most wicked, and prevaricators, and to a king unjust, and most wicked beyond all that are upon the earth. 33 And now we cannot open our mouths: we have become a shame, and a reproach to your servants, and to them that worship you.

Azarias asks God to be merciful

34 Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech you, for your name's sake, and abolish not your covenant. 35 And take not away your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, your beloved, and Isaac, your servant, and Israel, your holy one: 36 To whom you have spoken, promising that you would multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea shore. 37 For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins. 38 Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of first fruits before you, 39 that we may find your mercy: nevertheless, in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted. 40 As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in your sight this day, that it may please you: for there is no confusion to them that trust in you. 41 And now we follow you with all our heart, and we fear you, and seek your face. 42 Put us not to confusion, but deal with us according to your meekness, and according to the multitude of your mercies. 43 And deliver us, according to your wonderful works, and give glory to your name, O Lord: 44 And let all them be confounded that show evils to your servants, let them be confounded in all your might, and let their strength be broken: 45 And let them know that you are the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world.

An angel protects the three from the flames

46 Now the king's servants that had cast them in, ceased not to heat the furnace with brimstone and tow, and pitch, and dry sticks, 47 and the flame mounted up above the furnace nine and forty cubits: 48 And it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found near the furnace. 49 But the angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his companions into the furnace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of the furnace, 50 and made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them, nor did them any harm.

Canticle of Sidrach, Mishach, and Abednago

51 Then these three, as with one mouth, praised and glorified and blessed God, in the furnace, saying: 52 Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers; and worthy to be praised, and glorified, and exalted above all for ever: and blessed is the holy name of your glory: and worthy to be praised and exalted above all, in all ages. 53 Blessed are you in the holy temple of your glory: and exceedingly to be praised, and exceeding glorious for ever. 54 Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom, and exceedingly to be praised, and exalted above all for ever. 55 Blessed are you, that behold the depths, and sit upon the cherubims: and worthy to be praised and exalted above all for ever. 56 Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven: and worthy of praise, and glorious for ever.

All God's works are exhorted to praise Him

Catechism of the Catholic Church 3:57-58 2416

57 All you works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 58 O you angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 59 O you heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 60 O all you waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 61 O all you powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 62 O you sun and moon, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 63 O you stars of heaven, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 64 O every shower and dew, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 65 O all you spirits of God, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 66 O you fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 67 O you cold and heat, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all for ever. 68 O you dews and hoar frosts, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 69 O you frost and cold, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 70 O you ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 71 O you nights and days, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 72 O you light and darkness, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 73 O you lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 74 O let the earth bless the Lord: let it praise and exalt him above all for ever. 75 O you mountains and hills, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 76 O all you things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 77 O you fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 78 O you seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 79 O you whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 80 O all you fowls of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 81 O all you beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.

All men are urged to praise and exult God

82 O you sons of men, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 83 O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him above all for ever. 84 O you priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 85 O you servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 86 O you spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 87 O you holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. 88 O Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. For he has delivered us from hell, and saved us out of the hand of death, and delivered us out of the midst of the burning flame, and saved us out of the midst of the fire. 89 O give thanks to the Lord, because he is good: because his mercy endures for ever and ever. 90 O all you religious, bless the Lord, the God of gods: praise him, and give him thanks, because his mercy endures for ever and ever.

The king sees four men walking in the fire

91 (24) Then Nabuchodonosor, the king, was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his nobles: Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered the king, and said: True, O king. 92 (25) He answered, and said: Behold, I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Sidrach, Mishach, and Abednago set free

93 (26) Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, you servants of the most high God, go forth, and come. And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, went out from the midst of the fire. 94 (27) And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king, being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them.

Nabuchodonosor promotes the three men

95 (28) Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: Blessed be the God of them, to wit, of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants that believed in him: and they changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies, that they might not serve nor adore any god except their own God. 96 (29) By me, therefore, this decree is made: That every people, tribe, and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the God of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste: for there is no other God that can save in this manner. 97 (30) Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the province of Babylon. 98 (31) Nabuchodonosor, the king, to all peoples, nations, and tongues, that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. 99 (32) The most high God has wrought signs and wonders towards me. It has seemed good to me, therefore, to publish 100 (33) his signs, because they are great: and his wonders, because they are mighty: and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power to all generations.

Commentary on Daniel 3

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3:1-7 At the outset the king admired the prophet’s wisdom, and professed belief that his God is the God of all. But in a brief period of time he returned to his former self, like a dog to his vomit, as the Scriptures says Prov 26:11. (Theodoret of Cyrus) or the fact that in a polytheistic country many gods were worshipped. (Fr. Most) It is the higher ranks which stand in the greater peril, and those who occupy the loftier position are the

more sudden in their fall. (St. Jerome)

3:1 statue: The idol was probably Nabu. (Fr. Most)

3:7 adored: Some did so because they feared the king himself; but all or “most”, because they were idolaters, obeyed the word commanded by the king. (St. Hippolytus)

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3:8 accused: They were envious of these Jews because they had been in charge of the king's business in Babylon, and also they were offended by their foreign religion and aversion towards idols. (St. Jerome)

3:16 These three youths are an example to all faithful men, inasmuch as they did not fear the crowd of satraps, neither did they tremble when they heard the king’s words, nor did they shrink when they saw the flame of the blazing furnace, but deemed all men and the whole world as nothing, and kept the fear of God alone before their eyes. (St. Hippolytus)

3:18 They believed that they might escape according to their faith, but they added, “and if not,” that the king might know that they could also die for the God they worshipped. For this is

the strength of courage and of faith, to believe and to know that God can deliver from present death, and yet not to fear death nor to give way, that faith may be the more mightily proved. The uncorrupted and unconquered might of the Holy Spirit broke forth by their mouth, so that the words which the Lord in His Gospel spoke are seen to be true: “But when they shall seize you, take no thought what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (St. Cyprian)

3:22 So that the king and the Babylonians would not think that they were seeing an illusion and the fire being harmless, God caused many of those who had gathered around the furnace to be consumed. (Ishodad of Merv)

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3:24-90 The Hebrew text goes only up to this point and the intervening passage which now follows as far as the end of the Song of the Three Youths is not contained in the Hebrew i.e. the Aramaic. (St. Jerome)

3:24 praising God, and blessing the Lord: There is a similarity here that can be observed between the old and the new. When the blessed apostle Peter and John were condemned to a similar fate by the Pharisees, they left rejoicing since they had been considered worthy to be punished for the name of Jesus. Acts 5:41 The blessed Paul with Silas, also being inflicted with the tortures of the magistrates of Philippi, remained in jail, bound in shackles. However, at midnight “they prayed and sang to the Lord.” Acts 16:25 (Theodoret of Cyrus)

3:28-31 There is none, there is no remedy better able to destroy sins than to continually recall them and continually accuse oneself. And yet what was more brilliant, more pure than they? And even if they had committed some sins, the nature of the flames would have cancelled all of them. They did not look at their virtues, however, but thought of their sins. (St. John Chrysostom) Also they were speaking as representatives of their people. (St. Jerome)

3:39-40 Contrite means sorely afflicted by the toils of repentance. Humble, that is, before God, so that the heart which is proud through arrogance becomes devoted through holy confession. Note the order, the heart could not be humbled if it had not become contrite through repeated afflictions. (Cassiodorus)

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3:46 Naphtha: The Roman historian Sallust wrote that naphtha is a kind of tinder in use among the Persians which furnishes the utmost encouragement to fires. Others are of the opinion that naphtha is the name applied to olive-pits which are thrown away when the dregs of the oil have dried up. In the same way, they assert, the Greek term pyrine is derived from its property of nourishing pyr, that is, "fire". (St. Jerome)

3:49 angel of the Lord: see notes on verses 92 and 95.

3:53 holy temple: They held an indelible memory of the divine Temple, and being scrupulous observers of the Law they prayed accordingly. (Theodoret of Cyrus)

3:54 kingdom: It is the empire of God over all created things. Of this it is said in Ps. 145:13 “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and you dominion endures throughout all ages.” And it is God’s mystical kingdom: by it, through faith and grace, He reigns in the hearts of the Faithful. It is such a kingdom as this, that the devil should cease to reign in the world, and that sin should no longer reign in our mortal bodies, that S. Ambrose, S. Jerome, and Euthymius think is here meant. (Cornelius A Lapide)

3:56-81 .To this Basil answers Hom. iii in Hexaem. that these words do not mean that these things like waters are rational creatures, but that "the thoughtful contemplation of them by those who understand fulfils the glory of the Creator." (St. Thomas Aquinas) Also, the mention of all these created things such as rivers, mountains, angels, etc. were to contruct an idea that it is God as the Creator, whereas those created things were often divinized. (Severian of Gabala)

3:86 spirits and souls: On account of these words, certain
people maintained that the spirit in man is one element and the soul another, thus positing two souls in man, that is, one which animates the body and another which carries on the function of reasoning. These opinions are rejected in the Church’s teaching. For it should be realized that these two elements
[which are really one] do not differ essentially, but only by reason of the powers present in them. There are certain powers in our soul which are linked to bodily organs, such as the powers of the sensitive part of the soul. And there are other powers which are not linked to bodily organs, but function apart from the body, insofar as they are the powers of the intellectual part of the soul. The latter powers are regarded as spiritual powers in that they are immaterial and separated in some manner from the body in that they are not functions of the body but are referred to as the mind. “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds” Eph. 4:23. Yet it is called the soul insofar as it animates the body, for this is proper to it. Paul speaks here in a specific sense. (St. Thomas Aquinas)

3:92 (25) fourth that is like the Son of God: Either we must take him to be an angel, as the Septuagint has rendered it, or indeed, as the majority think, the Lord our Savior. (St. Jerome)

3:95 (28) angel: The person whom he had previously called a son of God he here calls an angel, even though he had in the preceding passage described him as similar to a son of God rather than to God Himself. (St. Jerome)

3:98-100 (31-33) These three last verses are a kind of preface to the following chapter, which is written in the style of an epistle from the king. (Challoner)

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