Fish the Right

Day 148 · Part 9: Exile

The Fiery Furnace

Dan 3 · Dan (Gk) 3:24–90 · 97 verses

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In the Story

In context

Nebuchadnezzar sets up an image of gold sixty cubits high, about 90 feet, on the plain of Dura, and all must worship it when the music plays (Daniel 3:1–6). Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answer that their God is able to deliver them, “But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods” (3:17–18). It is a hard reading in places: the furnace is heated seven times hotter, and its flame kills the men who throw them in (3:19–22).

Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include a longer passage here, from the Greek: the prayer of Azariah (Abednego) in the fire, and the song of the three calling on all the Lord’s works, sun and moon, frost and snow, whales and birds, to “bless the Lord” (Daniel (Greek) 3:24–90). Most Protestant Bibles leave it out or print it apart as the Apocrypha.

Then the king sees “four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire,” and says the fourth “is like a son of the gods” (the WEB’s note gives “the Son of God” as another reading) (Daniel 3:25). The three come out without even the smell of fire on them, and the king blesses their God, “who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him” (3:27–28).

A word of hope
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.

Isaiah 43:2 · Three men walked unharmed in the fire; through Isaiah the Lord promises, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.”

In the Bible

World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).

Daniel 3

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Daniel (Greek) 3:24–90

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A hymn for today

How Firm a Foundation · words by “K” in John Rippon’s Selection of Hymns

Organ and orchestra: an introduction, then each of the 7 verses. Tap a verse’s number to start there.
  1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!What more can He say than to you He hath said,You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
  2. In every condition, in sickness, in health,In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,As thy days may demand shall thy strength ever be.
  3. Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed,For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
  4. When through the deep waters I call thee to go,The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
  5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;The flame shall not hurt thee; I only designThy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
  6. E'en down to old age all My people shall proveMy sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
  7. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,I will not, I will not desert to his foes;That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,I'll never, no never, no never forsake.