After Azarias’ hymn, and angel comes from heaven and protects the three men, throwing the fire at those who had put them in the furnace. And in the furnace itself the temperature becomes like that of a pleasant summer and the flames were put out wherever the men walked within the furnace.
Then the three men begin a hymn of praise, blessing the work of God and cataloguing his creation.
After this long prayer, Nebuchadnezzar speaks with his counselors, noting that four men, not three, were in the fire (and, we assume, recognizing that none of them have been burned up).
His counselor says that God is protecting the men and that it would be a good idea to take them out of the furnace. They are released, and though the ropes that had bound them were burned away, their clothing was not harmed at all by the flames.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
