Chapter 52

¹ See: three young men became an example to all believing people—men who neither feared the throng of satraps, nor lost heart when they heard the king’s words, nor cowered though they knew the fire of the furnace was burning, but despised all men and the whole world, having before their eyes only the fear of God.

² Daniel, standing at a distance and keeping silent, was teaching them to take courage, smiling toward them and himself rejoicing at their testimony, beholding three young men about to be crowned in victory over the devil—men not deceived by the art of music, nor enslaved by the pleasure of instruments, nor led astray by the error of the Babylonians, nor subjected to the king’s decree, nor bowing their knees to a beaten golden image.

³ These three faithful martyrs were found in Babylon, so that through them God might be glorified, and Nebuchadnezzar put to shame, and the idols of the Babylonians shown to be nothing.