March 20, 2013, Reading

Daniel   3: 14-20, 91-92, 95

3:14 And king Nebuchadnezzar addressed them and said, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not worship my gods, nor adore the gold statue, which I have set up?
3:15 Therefore, if you are prepared now, whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, pipe, lute, harp and psaltery, and of the symphony and every kind of music, prostrate yourselves and adore the statue which I have made. But if you will not adore, in the same hour you will be cast into the furnace of burning fire. And who is the God that will rescue you from my hand?”
3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to king Nebuchadnezzar, “It is not right for us to obey you in this matter.
3:17 For behold our God, whom we worship, is able to rescue us from the oven of burning fire and to free us from your hands, O king.
3:18 But even if he will not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not worship your gods, nor adore the gold statue, which you have raised up.”
3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury and the appearance of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated to seven times its usual fire.
3:20 And he ordered the strongest men of his army to bind the feet of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire.
3:91 Then king Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he quickly got up and said to his nobles: “Did we not cast three men shackled into the midst of the fire?” Answering the king, they said, “True, O king.”
3:92 He answered and said, “Behold, I see four men unbound and walking in the midst of the fire, and no harm is in them, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of God.”
3:95 Then Nebuchadnezzar, bursting out, said, “Blessed is their God, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel and rescued his servants who believed in him. And they altered the verdict of the king, and they delivered up their bodies, so that they would not serve or adore any god except their God.

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