Chapter 59

¹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the appearance of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he said: “Heat the furnace sevenfold, until it is utterly burned.” And he commanded strong men in strength to bind them and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then those men were bound, together with their garments and their trousers […], and they were cast into the burning fiery furnace according to the king’s word.

² Now they were the stronger, if one must speak the truth—the young men […]. For as much as the word of the young men prevailed, so much was the king enraged; and he said, “Heat the furnace sevenfold,” altogether as one already defeated by them.

³ For in earthly things the king prevailed, but in faith toward God the three young men prevailed. —

⁴ But someone will say: Could not Daniel, being a friend of the king, have interceded on their behalf and asked for the three young men? He could have; but in order that the great works of God might be displayed and that the Babylonians might learn to fear God, for this reason he kept silent, so that both the faith of these men might be shown and God might be glorified in them.

⁵ For if this had happened, the Babylonians would have been likely to say: “If Daniel had not interceded with the king on their behalf, these men would have perished today in the fire”—and it would have been thought to be a human favor rather than the power of God.