Azariah’s Prayer in the Furnace

Azariah and the Three Youths 1–22 (Additions to Daniel)

2nd or 1st Century BCE

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In addition to a hymn of praise recited by Daniel’s three friends Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael upon surviving the ordeal of the fiery furnace, the Greek translator of Daniel added a prayer for divine assistance recited by Azariah while in the furnace. The prayer contains both penitential and communal elements: The petitioner acknowledges the justice of God’s punishment of Israel, who can plead no merit. He therefore appeals to the merits of the patriarchs and God’s promises to them. He points to Israel’s desperate condition and pleads that they not be further put to shame but be delivered and their persecutors punished.

¹They walked around in the midst of the flames, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. ²Then Azariah stood still in the fire and prayed aloud:

³“Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our ancestors, and worthy of praise;

and glorious is your name forever!

⁴For you are just in all you have done;

all your works are true and your ways right,

and all your judgments are true.

⁵You have executed true judgments in all you have brought upon us

and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our ancestors;

by a true judgment you have brought all this upon us because of our sins.

⁶For we have sinned and broken your law in turning away from you;

in all matters we have sinned grievously.

⁷We have not obeyed your commandments,

we have not kept them or done what you have commanded us for our own good.

⁸So all that you have brought upon us,

and all that you have done to us,

you have done by a true judgment.

⁹You have handed us over to our enemies, lawless and hateful rebels,

and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world.

¹⁰And now we cannot open our mouths;

we, your servants who worship you, have become a shame and a reproach.

¹¹For your name’s sake do not give us up for ever,

and do not annul your covenant.

¹²Do not withdraw your mercy from us,

for the sake of Abraham your beloved

and for the sake of your servant Isaac

and Israel your holy one,

¹³to whom you promised

to multiply their descendants like the stars of heaven

and like the sand on the shore of the sea.

¹⁴For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any other nation,

and are brought low this day in all the world because of our sins.

¹⁵In our day we have no ruler, or prophet, or leader,

no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense,

no place to make an offering before you and to find mercy.

¹⁶Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,

¹⁷as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls,

or with tens of thousands of fat lambs;

such may our sacrifice be in your sight today,

and may we unreservedly follow you,

for no shame will come to those who trust in you.

¹⁸And now with all our heart we follow you;

we fear you and seek your presence.

¹⁹Do not put us to shame,

but deal with us in your patience

and in your abundant mercy.

²⁰Deliver us in accordance with your marvelous works,

and bring glory to your name, O Lord.

²¹Let all who do harm to your servants be put to shame;

let them be disgraced and deprived of all power,

and let their strength be broken.

²²Let them know that you alone are the Lord God,

glorious over the whole world.”

Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.

Credits

New Revised Standard Version Bible copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

Azariah’s Prayer in the Furnace

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