Daniel 3:22

The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego.

ASV

Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

YLT

Therefore, because that the word of the king is urgent, and the furnace heated exceedingly, those men who have taken up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego--killed them hath the spark of the fire.

DBT

Forasmuch as the king's commandment was rigorous, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that had taken up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

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Commentary voices

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Voices6

On this verse

Verse 22. "Then those same men who had cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were slain by the fiery flame." Of course this meant the same men of whom it was said above, "And he commanded the strongest men in his army to bind the legs of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and cast them into the burning furnace of fire (another reading: into the furnace of flaming fire)." And so they were not any chance servants of his whom Nebuchadnezzar destroyed, but men who of all his army were strong and most ready for war.

Jerome· St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER THREE, 420patristic

Related commentary

And therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent,....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Therefore, because the kings commandment was urgent - Margin, as in Chaldee, word. The meaning is, that the king would admit of no delay; he urged on the execution of his will, even at the imminent peril of those who were entrusted with the execution of his command. And the furnace exceeding hot - Probably so as to send out the flame so far as to render the approach to it dangerous. The urgency of the king would not admit of any arrangements, even if there could have been any, by which the approach to it would be safe.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

We are not careful - Hebrew. We care not: there is no need of any answer in this case for it is in vain for us to debate the matter; the king is resolved to have his will of us, and we are resolved on the contrary. But if not - It was therefore all one to them, which way God would honour himself; they were resolved to suffer rather than sin, and leave the cause to God.

John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical

Their miraculous preservation in the fire by the power of God, and their invitation out of the fire by the favour of the king, who was by this miracle convinced of his error in casting them in,

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

Nebuchadnezzar himself was reserved for a further reckoning. There is a day coming when proud tyrants will be punished, not only for the cruelties they have been guilty of, but for employing those about them in their cruelties, and so exposing them to the judgments of God. The deliverance of these three faithful servants of God out of the furnace.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

11 linked verses

The verses this one reaches11

2 Kings 1:10
Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
Proverbs 21:18
The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.
Proverbs 11:8
The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.
Daniel 2:15
“Why is the decree from the king so harsh?” he asked. At this time Arioch explained the situation to Daniel.
Daniel 6:24
At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
Exodus 12:33
And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”
Acts 12:19
After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.
Zechariah 12:2–3
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem.
Matthew 27:5
So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
1 Kings 13:28
and he went and found the body lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey.
Daniel 1:7
The chief official gave them new names: To Daniel he gave the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

Featured studyFaith Under Fire — the Furnace and the Lions' DenThis study walks through this verse.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Furnace — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866) — public domain

Daniel — A Hebrew exile at Babylonian and Persian courts sees empires rise and fall, a Son of Man coming with clouds, and seventy weeks locating Messiah in time. The canon's densest apocalyptic text — and its most interpretively contested.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Daniel (traditional — Jesus cites ‘Daniel the prophet’ in Matt 24:15); critical scholarship dates composition to the 2nd c. BC Maccabean period (both positions surfaced)
Date: Traditional: 6th c. BC. Critical: c. 165 BC. Site default: traditional; critical view surfaced at depth 2

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Proverbs 11:8
The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.
leads to
- Isaiah 43:3–4
  For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Daniel 6:23–24
  The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted…
- Proverbs 21:18
  The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.
- Esther 7:9–10
  Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.”…
Through
Proverbs 21:18
The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.
leads to
- Proverbs 11:8
  The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.
- Isaiah 53:4–5
  Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
Through
Exodus 12:33
And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”
leads to
- Psalms 105:38
  Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.
Through
Daniel 6:24
At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom…
leads to
- Isaiah 38:13
  I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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