Dan 3:12-23, 6:10-16 | ESV | STEP | There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon : Shadrach , Meshach , and Abednego . These men , O king , pay no attention to you ; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up .

12 There are certain Jews whom you have ^aappointed over the affairs of ^bthe province of Babylon: ^cShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, ^dpay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar ^ein furious rage commanded that ^fShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when ^gyou hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. ^{▼▼Aramaic lacks well and good} But if you do not worship, ⁱyou shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And ^jwho is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

16 ^kShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, ^lour God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ^{▼▼Or If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, he will deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king.} 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was ⁿfilled with fury, and the expression of his face ^owas changed against ^pShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army ^qto bind ^rShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were ^sbound in their cloaks, their tunics, ^{▼▼The meaning of the Aramaic words rendered cloaks and tunics is uncertain; also verse 27} their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was ^uurgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up ^vShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell ^wbound into the burning fiery furnace.

Daniel 6:10-16

10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where ^xhe had windows in his upper chamber open ^ytoward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees ^zthree times a day and prayed and ^aagave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they ^abcame near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign ^acan injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of ^adthe Medes and Persians, ^aewhich cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, ^af“Daniel, who is one ^agof the exiles ^ahfrom Judah, ^aipays no attention to you, O king, or ^ajthe injunction you have signed, but makes his petition ^akthree times a day.”

14 Then ^althe king, when he heard these words, ^amwas much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. 15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no ^aninjunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”

16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared ^{▼▼Aramaic answered and said; also verse 20} to Daniel, “May ^apyour God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”