16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we _are_ not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17. If it be _so_, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver _us_ out of thine hand, O king.
18. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: _therefore_ he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
--Or, 8 times as hot as the usual temperature. The numeral 7 expressed the utmost intensity known to the king.
20. And he commanded the most mighty men that _were_ in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, _and_ to cast _them_ into the burning fiery furnace.
21. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their _other_ garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
22. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
--This seems to have been what is technically called "back-draught," which those who are skilled in feeding furnaces are careful to guard against, but which a soldier knows nothing about.
23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, _and_ spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
25. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
26. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, _and_ spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come _hither_. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire.