June 19

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.

14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, It is true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?

15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sack-bat, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well; but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should hear the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding

bot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

23 And there three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose upon haste, and spoke, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come kither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar, the idolatrous king of Babylon, made a great image of gold, which was set up in a plain of Dura. All the people were commanded to fall down and worship it. The three Hebrew children refused to do so. For this refusal they were cast into the fire; but they remain unhurt by it. Five things astonished the king as he looked on: 1. That there were four in the furnace, when they had only cast three into it. 2. That they were "loose." 3. That they were walking in the midst of the fire. 4. That they were unhurt. 5. The appearance of the fourth. He likens the form of the fourth to "the Son of God," or, more literally, to "a son of God."

Matthew Henry says: "A man has only so much religion as he can show in times of trouble."

"They came out as they went in—except their bonds. How often in some furnace of affliction God strikes them off! Their bodies were unhurt -- their skin not even blistered. Their hair was unsinged, their garments not scorched, and even the smell of fire had not passed upon them. And that is the way that Christians should come out of all furnace trials—liberated from their bonds, but untouched by the flames. And we are glad to say that there are some whom we personally know of whom that is true. They have been in the very midst of the furnace, walking, as it were, on burning coals, and yet, so sweet and radiant are their countenances now, no one would suppose that they had ever known what it is to be in sore affliction."

Closet Promise.—The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.—Nahum i. 7.

Pain's furnace heat within me quivers, God's breath upon the same 30th blow, And all my heart in anguish shivers, And trembles at the fiery glow; And yet I whisper: As God will! And in His hotter fire hold still.

He comes and lays my heart, all heated, On the hard anvil, minded so In His own fair shape to beat it With His great hammer, blow on blow; And yet I whisper: As God will! And at His heaviest blows hold still.

He takes my softened heart and beats it, The sparks fly off at every blow; He turns it o'er and o'er heats it, And lets it cool and makes it glow;

And yet I whisper: As God will! And in His mighty hand hold still.

Why should I murmur? For the sorrow Thus only longer lived would be; Its end may come, and will, to-morrow, When God has done His work in me; So I say, trusting: As God will! And, trusting to the end, hold still.

He kindles for my profit purely Affliction's glowing, fiery brand, And all His heaviest blows are surely Inflicted by a master hand; So I say, praying: As God will! And hope in Him, and suffer still.

—From the German.