Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Song of Praise to the Lord for His Salvation and Judgment

A Psalm.

Saved in Fiery Trial

¹⁹ Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰ And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹ Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²² Therefore, because the king’s command was ^[a]urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. ²³ And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

²⁴ Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his ^[b]counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”

²⁵ “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, ^(A)walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like ^(B)the^[c] Son of God.”

Nebuchadnezzar Praises God

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the ^[d]mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the ^(C)Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. ²⁷ And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men ^(D)on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His ^(E)Angel^[e] and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! ^29 (F)Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the ^(G)God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be ^(H)cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; ^(I)because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

³⁰ Then the king ^[f]promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.

Finality of Babylon’s Fall

²¹ Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ^(A)“Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and ^(B)shall not be found anymore. ^22 (C)The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. ^23 (D)The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, ^(E)and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For ^(F)your merchants were the great men of the earth, ^(G)for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. ²⁴ And ^(H)in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who ^(I)were slain on the earth.”