Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men

Summary:

A prayer and hymn credited to the three young associates of Daniel-Ananiah, Misael, and Azariah, better known by their Babylonian names-Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The addition begins with Abednego's prayer of confession for Israel's sins, offered while the three are in the fiery furnace. This poetry is followed a brief prose account, identifying the fourth man in the fire as an angel of the Lord. Poetry resumes in the hymn of the three, still in the furnace, who bless God for his deliverance and the created order. The addition turns attention from the tyranny of the Jews' oppressors to the reward of piety.

Canonical Status:

Among the Deuterocanonical books of Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox Churches Among the Old Testament Apocrypha of Protestants Not included in the Hebrew Scriptures - Tanak Additions located between Daniel 3:23 and 24 in the Greek versions of the Septuagint and Theodotion and in the Latin Vulgate

Author: anonymous Jewish author of the diaspora

Date: 2nd century BC

Original Language:

Two slightly different Greek versions of the prayer survive in the Septuagint and Theodotion, both marked by semitisms. Many scholars argue for an Aramaic or Hebrew Vorlage, although no Semitic original has been discovered to date.

Notes prepared by George Lyons (Professor of Biblical Literature)

for the Wesley Center for Applied Theology at Northwest Nazarene University

Copyright 2000 by the Wesley Center for Applied Theology

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