¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar began speaking and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you do not serve ^(A)my gods, nor worship the golden statue that I have set up? ¹⁵ Now if you are ready, ^(B)at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, ^[a]lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will ^[b]immediately be ^(C)thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and ^(D)what god is there who can rescue you from my hands?”

^16 (E)Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we are not in need of an answer to give you concerning this matter. ¹⁷ If it be so, our ^(F)God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire; ^[c]and ^(G)He will rescue us from your hand, O king. ^18 (H)But even if He does not, ^(I)let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods nor worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

Daniel’s Friends Protected

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with ^(J)wrath, and his facial expression was changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He answered ^[d]by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ And he ordered certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in order to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

²⁷ The ^(A)satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the ^(B)fire had no ^[a]effect on ^[b]the bodies of these men, nor was the hair of their heads singed, nor were their ^[c](C)trousers ^[d]damaged, nor had even the smell of fire touched them.