Act 3 — SCENE II
Reading edition
The men come before the King and begin their story by saying, "O King, live forever!" The Bible language may be used directly here in the conversation which follows. The King is very angry at what these men tell him. He orders that the three Jews be brought before him. They are brought in and the King tells them that they will have to be put into the fiery furnace if they do not obey. The Jews are not afraid and reply that their God will take care of them. The King then orders them to be bound and to be taken out to the furnace, which has been heated seven times hotter than usual. Men come running back to the King to tell him that the servants which thrust the Jews into the furnace were burnt up by the heat, but that the Jews were not harmed. Another man runs in and tells the King that a fourth person is in the furnace, and that he resembles the Son of God. Nebuchadnezzar commands that the three men be brought out from the furnace. They come before him, with no mark of the fire on them. The King is so greatly impressed that he makes a decree that no one shall speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He then appoints these three men to positions of greater trust than ever before.