Part 569 (1/2)

3:87. O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.

3:88. O Ananias, Azarias, Misael, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. For he hath delivered us from h.e.l.l, ad saved us out of the hand of death, and delivered us out of the midst of the burning flame, and saved us out of the midst of the fire.

3:89. O give thanks to the Lord, because he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever and ever.

3:90. O all ye religious, bless the Lord, the G.o.d of G.o.ds: praise him, and give him thanks, because his mercy endureth for ever and ever.

3:91. Then Nabuchodonosor, the king, was astonished, and rose up in haste, and said to his n.o.bles: Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered the king, and said: True, O king.

3:92. He answered, and said: Behold, I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the son of G.o.d.

3:93. Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery furnace, and said: Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, ye servants of the most high G.o.d, go ye forth, and come. And immediately Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, went out from the midst of the fire.

3:94. And the n.o.bles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the great men of the king, being gathered together, considered these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell of the fire had pa.s.sed on them.

3:95. Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: Blessed be the G.o.d of them, to wit, of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that believed in him: and they changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies, that they might not serve nor adore any G.o.d except their own G.o.d.

3:96. By me, therefore, this decree is made: That every people, tribe, and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the G.o.d of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste: for there is no other G.o.d that can save in this manner.

3:97. Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the province of Babylon.

3:98. Nabuchodonosor, the king, to all peoples, nations, and tongues, that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you.

Nabuchodonosor, etc... These last three verses are a kind of preface to the following chapter, which is written in the style of an epistle from the king.

3:99. The most high G.o.d hath wrought signs and wonders towards me. It hath seemed good to me, therefore, to publish

3:100. His signs, because they are great: and his wonders, because they are mighty: and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power to all generations.

Daniel Chapter 4

Nabuchodonosor's dream, by which the judgments of G.o.d are denounced against him for his pride, is interpreted by Daniel, and verified by the event.

4:1. I, Nabuchodonosor, was at rest in my house, and flouris.h.i.+ng in my palace:

4:2. I saw a dream that affrighted me: and my thoughts in my bed, and the visions of my head, troubled me.

4:3. Then I set forth a decree, that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought in before me, and that they should shew me the interpretation of the dream.

4:4. Then came in the diviners, the wise men, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them: but they did not shew me the interpretation thereof.

4:5. Till their colleague, Daniel, came in before me, whose name is Balta.s.sar, according to the name of my G.o.d, who hath in him the spirit of the holy G.o.ds: and I told the dream before him.

Balta.s.sar, according to the name of my G.o.d... He says this, because the name of Balta.s.sar, or Belteshazzar, is derived from the name of Bel, the chief G.o.d of the Babylonians.

4:6. Balta.s.sar, prince of the diviners, because I know that thou hast in thee the spirit of the holy G.o.ds, and that no secret is impossible to thee, tell me the visions of my dreams that I have seen, and the interpretation of them?

4:7. This was the vision of my head in my bed: I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was exceeding great.

4:8. The tree was great and strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven: the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth.