King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then he summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, judges, and other officials to gather for the dedication of the image he had set up. Officials from throughout the province stood before the golden image.
A herald called out the king’s command. Peoples, nations, and languages were to fall down and worship the golden image whenever they heard the horn, pipe, lyre, harp, and the other instruments. Anyone who refused to fall down and worship would immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.
When the instruments sounded, the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. At that time some Chaldeans came forward to accuse certain Jews. They spoke of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the men whom the king had placed over the affairs of Babylon’s province.
The accusers said that the three men paid no heed to the king. They did not serve his gods and did not worship the golden image he had set up. Nebuchadnezzar became furious and ordered the men brought before him. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood before the king, he asked whether the report was true.
The king offered them another opportunity. If they fell down and worshiped the image when the music sounded, all would be well. But if they refused, they would immediately be thrown into the blazing furnace. The king then asked what god could deliver them from his hand. His demand and his threat now stood directly before the three men.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied that they did not need to answer the king in this matter. If their God chose, the God they served was able to rescue them from the blazing furnace and from the king’s hand. But even if God did not do so, they said, they would not serve the king’s gods or worship the golden image.
Nebuchadnezzar’s face changed with rage against them. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. He ordered some of the strongest soldiers in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.
The three men were bound while still wearing their trousers, robes, hats, and other garments. The king’s order was urgent and the furnace was exceedingly hot. The flames killed the soldiers who carried the men close to it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell, still bound, into the center of the blazing furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar rose in alarm and asked his advisers whether they had thrown three bound men into the fire. They answered that they had. The king said that he saw four men, unbound and walking in the fire without harm. The appearance of the fourth, he said, was like a son of the gods.
Nebuchadnezzar came near the opening of the blazing furnace and called to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, to come out. They came out of the fire. The officials who had gathered examined them. The fire had not harmed their bodies, not a hair on their heads was singed, their clothes were unchanged, and there was no smell of fire on them.
Nebuchadnezzar praised the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He said that their God had sent an angel and rescued servants who trusted in him, defied the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve or worship another god. Their refusal had held even when the king’s order demanded their lives.
The king issued another decree. Anyone of any people, nation, or language who spoke against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would be torn limb from limb and their house made a heap of ruins. No other god, the king said, could save in this way. Then he promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.