Daniel 3:6

New American Standard Bible

"But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into the middle of a furnace of blazing fire."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”

Hebrew Names Version
and whoever doesn't fall down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

King James Version
And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

English Standard Version
And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace."

New Century Version
Anyone who doesn't bow down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

Amplified Bible
"Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And whosoeuer falleth not downe & worshippeth, shall the same houre bee cast into the middes of an hote fierie fornace.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire."

Berean Standard Bible
And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the burning fiery furnace."

Contemporary English Version
Anyone who refuses will at once be thrown into a flaming furnace.

Complete Jewish Bible
Whoever does not fall down and worship is to be thrown immediately into a blazing hot furnace."

Darby Translation
and whosoever doth not fall down and worship shall that same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Easy-to-Read Version
Whoever does not bow down and worship this gold idol will immediately be thrown into a very hot furnace."

George Lamsa Translation
And whosoever does not fall down and worship shall at the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Good News Translation
Anyone who does not bow down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

Lexham English Bible
And whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown immediately into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire."

Literal Translation
And whoever does not fall down and worship, at that moment they will be thrown into the middle of a burning, fiery furnace.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Who so then falleth not downe and boweth himself, shal euen the same houre be cast in to an hote burnynge ouen.

American Standard Version
and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Bible in Basic English
And anyone not falling down and worshipping will that same hour be put into a burning and flaming fire.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.'

King James Version (1611)
And who so falleth not down and worshippeth, shall the same houre bee cast into the middest of a burning fierie furnace.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Whoso then falleth not downe & worshippeth, shall euen the same houre be cast into the mids of a hot firie fornace.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And whosoever shall not fall down and worship, in the same hour he shall be cast into the burning fiery furnace.

English Revised Version
and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

World English Bible
and whoever doesn't fall down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sotheli if ony man fallith not doun, and worschipith not, in the same our he schal be sent in to the furneis of fier brennynge.

Update Bible Version
and whoever does not fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Webster's Bible Translation
And whoever shall not fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

New English Translation
Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!"

New King James Version
and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace."

New Living Translation
Anyone who refuses to obey will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

New Life Bible
Whoever does not get down and worship will be thrown at once into the big and hot fire."

New Revised Standard
Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and, whosoever shall not fall down and adore, shall, instantly, be cast into the burning furnace of fire.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire.

Revised Standard Version
and whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace."

Young's Literal Translation
and whoso doth not fall down and do obeisance, in that hour he is cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.'

Contextual Overview

¹ Nebuchadnezzar the king made a statue of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits, and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. ² Nebuchadnezzar the king also sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the chief treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the administrators of the provinces to come to the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ³ Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the chief treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the administrators of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ⁴ Then the herald loudly proclaimed: "To you the command is given, you peoples, nations, and populations of all languages, ⁵ that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, you are to fall down and worship the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. ⁶ "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into the middle of a furnace of blazing fire."⁷ Therefore as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages fell down and worshiped the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

falleth: Daniel 3:11, Daniel 3:15, Exodus 20:5, Isaiah 44:17, Matthew 4:9, Revelation 13:15-17

the same: Daniel 2:5, Daniel 2:12, Daniel 2:13, Mark 6:27

a burning: Genesis 19:28, Jeremiah 29:22, Ezekiel 22:18-22, Matthew 13:42, Matthew 13:50, Revelation 9:2, Revelation 14:11

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 21:11 - compelled Daniel 5:19 - whom he would he slew Daniel 6:7 - he shall Ephesians 6:9 - forbearing

Cross-References

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Genesis 3:2
The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:14
Then the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;

Genesis 3:15
And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel."

Genesis 3:17
Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life.

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

Genesis 6:2
that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

Genesis 39:7
And it came about after these events that his master's wife had her eyes on Joseph, and she said, "Sleep with me."

Joshua 7:21
when I saw among the spoils a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I wanted them and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth,.... Who refuses to worship it, or wilfully neglects it; which would be interpreted a contempt of it, and of the king's command:

shall in the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; such as were used to burn stones in for lime, as Jarchi observes: the music was to draw, the furnace was to drive, men to this idolatrous worship; the one was to please and sooth the minds of men, and so allure them to such stupid service; the other to frighten them into obedience. This is the first time that mention is made of "hours" in the sacred Scriptures; it was very probably the invention of the Chaldeans or Babylonians; for Herodotus m says the Greeks received the twelve parts of the day from the Babylonians.

m Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 109.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth - The order in this verse seems to be tyrannical, and it is contrary to all our notions of freedom of religious opinion and worship. But it was much in the spirit of that age, and indeed of almost every age. It was an act to enforce uniformity in religion by the authority of the civil magistrate, and to secure it by threatened penalties. It should be observed, however, that the command at that time would not be regarded as harsh and oppressive by “pagan” worshippers, and might be complied with consistently with their views, without infringing on their notions of religious liberty. The homage rendered to one god did not, according to their views, conflict with any honor that was due to another, and though they were required to worship this divinity, that would not be a prohibition against worshipping any other. It was also in accordance with all the views of paganism that all proper honor should be rendered to the particular god or gods which any people adored.

The nations assembled here would regard it as no dishonor shown to the particular deity whom they worshipped to render homage to the god worshipped by Nebuchadnezzar, as this command implied no prohibition against worshipping any other god. It was only in respect to those who held that there is but one God, and that all homage rendered to any other is morally wrong, that this command would be oppressive. Accordingly, the contemplated vengeance fell only on the Jews - all, of every other nation, who were assembled, complying with the command without hesitation. It violated “no” principle which they held to render the homage which was claimed, for though they had their own tutelary gods whom they worshipped, they supposed the same was true of every other people, and that “their” gods were equally entitled to respect; but it violated “every” principle on which the Jew acted - for he believed that there was but one God ruling over all nations, and that homage rendered to any other was morally wrong. Compare Hengstenberg, “Authentie des Daniel,” pp. 83, 84.

Shall the same hour - This accords with the general character of an Oriental despot accustomed to enjoin implicit obedience by the most summary process, and it is entirely conformable to the whole character of Nebuchadnezzar. It would seem from this, that there was an apprehension that some among the multitudes assembled would refuse to obey the command. Whether there was any “design” to make this bear hard on the Jews, it is impossible now to determine. The word which is here rendered “hour” (שׁעתא sha‛^etâ) is probably from שׁעה shâ‛âh - “to look;” and properly denotes a look, a glance of the eye, and then the “time” of such a glance - a moment, an instant. It does not refer to “an hour,” as understood by us, but means “instantly, immediately” - as quick as the glance of an eye. The word is not found in Hebrew, and occurs in Chaldee only in Daniel 3:6, Daniel 3:15; Daniel 4:19, Daniel 4:33 (Daniel 4:16, Daniel 4:30); Daniel 5:5, in each case rendered “hour.” Nothing can be inferred from it, however, in regard to the division of time among the Chaldeans into “hours” - though Herodotus says that the Greeks received the division of the day into twelve parts from them. - Lib. ii., c. 109.

Be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace - The word here rendered “furnace” (אתון 'attûn) is derived from (תנן t^enan), “to smoke;” and may be applied to any species of furnace, or large oven. It does not denote the use to which the furnace was commonly applied, or the form of its construction. Any furnace for burning lime - if lime was then burned - or for burning bricks, if they were burned, or for smelting ore, would correspond with the meaning of the word. Nor is it said whether the furnace referred to would be one that would be constructed for the occasion, or one in common use for some other purpose. The editor of Calmet (Taylor) supposes that the “furnace” here referred to was rather a fire kindled in the open court of a temple, like a place set apart for burning martyrs, than a closed furnace of brick. See Cal. “Dict.” vol. iv. p. 330, following. The more obvious representation, however, is, that it was a closed place, in which the intensity of the fire could be greatly increased. Such a mode of punishment is not uncommon in the East. Chardin (vi. p. 118), after speaking of the common modes of inflicting the punishment of death in Persia, remarks that “there are other modes of inflicting the punishment of death on those who have violated the police laws, especially those who have contributed to produce scarcity of food, or who have used false weights, or who have disregarded the laws respecting taxes. The cooks,” says he, “were fixed on spits, and roasted over a gentle fire (compare Jeremiah 29:22), and the bakers were cast into a burning oven. In the year 1668, when the famine was raging, I saw in the royal residence in Ispahan one of these ovens burning to terrify the bakers, and to prevent their taking advantage of the scarcity to increase their gains.” See Rosenmuller, “Alte u. neue Morgenland, in loc.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 3:6. Shall the same hour — This is the first place in the Old Testament where we find the division of time into hours. The Greeks say that Anaximander was the inventor. He had it probably from the Chaldeans, among whom this division was in use long before Anaximander was born.

Be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. — This was an ancient mode of punishment among the Chaldeans, if we may credit the tradition that Abram was cast into such a fire by this idolatrous people because he would not worship their idols.