Daniel 3:5-15

3:5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, ¹  trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must ²  bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected. 3:6 Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately ³  be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!” 3:7 Therefore when they all ⁴  heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, ⁵  and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and language groups began bowing down and paying homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.

3:8 Now ⁶  at that time certain ⁷  Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against ⁸  the Jews. 3:9 They said ⁹  to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰  3:10 You have issued an edict, O king, that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music. 3:11 And whoever does not bow down and pay homage must be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. 3:12 But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and these men ¹¹  have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don’t serve your gods and they don’t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage ¹²  demanded that they bring ¹³  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them ¹⁴  before the king. 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and that you don’t pay homage to the golden statue that I erected? 3:15 Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?” ¹⁵ 

[3:5]  ¹ sn The word zither (Aramaic קִיתָרוֹס [qitaros]), and the words for harp (Aramaic פְּסַנְתֵּרִין [pÿsanterin]) and pipes (Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה [sumponÿyah]), are of Greek derivation. Though much has been made of this in terms of suggesting a date in the Hellenistic period for the writing of the book, it is not surprising that a few Greek cultural terms, all of them the names of musical instruments, should appear in this book. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the bigger surprise (if, in fact, the book is to be dated to the Hellenistic period) may be that there are so few Greek loanwords in Daniel.

[3:5]  ² tn The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.

[3:6]  ³ tn Aram “in that hour.”

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Aram “all the peoples.”

[3:7]  ⁵ tc Though not in the Aramaic text of BHS, this word appears in many medieval Hebrew MSS, some LXX MSS, and Vulgate. Cf. vv. 5, 10, 15.

[3:8]  ⁶ tc This expression is absent in Theodotion.

[3:8]  ⁷ tn Aram “men.”

[3:8]  ⁸ tn Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Aram “answered and said,” a common Aramaic idiom that occurs repeatedly in this chapter.

[3:9]  ¹⁰ sn O king, live forever! is a comment of typical court courtesy that is not necessarily indicative of the real sentiments of the speaker. Ancient oriental court protocol could sometimes require a certain amount of hypocrisy.

[3:12]  ¹¹ sn Daniel’s absence from this scene has sparked the imagination of commentators, some of whom have suggested that perhaps he was unable to attend the dedication due to sickness or due to being away on business. Hippolytus supposed that Daniel may have been watching from a distance.

[3:13]  ¹² tn Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[3:13]  ¹³ tn The Aramaic infinitive is active.

[3:13]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.

[3:15]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “hand.” So also in v. 17.