| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Three Young Men |
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| in the Book of Daniel, the three men cast by Nebuchadnezzar into the fiery furnace and delivered by an angel. Their names are Abed-nego, Shadrach, and Meshach, in Babylonian; Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael, in Hebrew; and Azarias, Ananias, and Misael, in Greek. The Song of the Three Holy Children is one of the portions of the Book of Daniel that appears in the Greek texts but not in the Hebrew-Aramaic versions. Hence it is relegated in the Authorized Version to the Apocrypha; in the Western canon it is placed in the third chapter. It recounts the actions of the three men in the furnace, first a prayer by Azarias for the victory of God, then a hymn by all three in praise of God; the portion from verse 57 is called Benedicite. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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