Daniel 1:6-7, 17-20
Renamed and tested
Given names honouring Babylonian gods and three years of Chaldean learning. At the end the king finds them ten times better than all the magicians in his realm.
People of the Bible
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
Said God is able to deliver us, and then said but if not, we still will not serve your gods.
Also called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
Three young men from Judah are taken with Daniel, renamed after Babylonian gods, and trained for the king’s service. They keep the food arrangement with him and are found ten times better than all the magicians. Years later a golden image sixty cubits high is set up on the plain of Dura, and every official in the province is summoned to fall down when the music plays. They do not, they are reported by name, and the king gives them one more chance in front of everyone.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
- 01
- 02
Daniel 3:1-12
The image on the plain of Dura
Sixty cubits by six, an orchestra, and an instruction to fall down at the sound. Certain Chaldeans come near and accuse the Jews, naming all three and adding that they do not regard the king.
- 03
Daniel 3:16-18
But if not
They decline even to defend themselves in the matter. Our God is able. And he will deliver us. And if he does not, we still will not serve your gods or worship the image.
- 04
Daniel 3:19-30
Four men loose in the fire
The furnace is heated seven times more and the men who carry them up are killed by the flame. The king rises in haste and asks whether they did not cast in three.
Why it matters
Their answer is the most carefully built sentence in the book, and it turns on two words. Our God is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us out of your hand. But if not, be it known to you that we will not serve your gods. The obedience is not conditional on the rescue. They go into a furnace heated seven times more than usual, and the men who throw them in are killed by the heat, and the king counts four figures walking loose in the fire.
8 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
