¹² Then they ^(A)came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign ^(B)an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of ^(C)the Medes and Persians, ^(D)which cannot be revoked.”

⁸ Now, O king, establish ^(A)the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to ^(B)the law of ^(C)the Medes and the Persians, ^(D)which cannot be revoked.”

The Fiery Furnace

⁸ Therefore at that time certain ^(A)Chaldeans ^(B)came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. ⁹ They declared^[a] to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰ You, O king, ^(C)have made a decree, that every man who ^(D)hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, ^(E)shall fall down and worship the golden image. ¹¹ And whoever does not fall down and worship ^(F)shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. ¹² There are certain Jews whom you have ^(G)appointed over the affairs of ^(H)the province of Babylon: ^(I)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, ^(J)pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

¹⁹ If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so ^(A)that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

¹⁹ But ^(A)when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and ^(B)dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

² And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying:

“Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, ^(A)most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation, ³ in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude. ⁴ But, to detain^[a] you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly. ⁵ For we have found this man a plague, ^(B)one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of ^(C)the sect of the Nazarenes. ^6 (D)He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.^{[b] 8} By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.”

⁹ The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.

²⁴ Having received this order, he put them into the inner ^(A)prison and fastened their feet in ^(B)the stocks.