The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Children is a lengthy passage that appears after Daniel 3:23 in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles, as well as in the ancient Greek Septuagint translation.
The passage includes the penitential prayer of Azariah (Abednego in Babylonian), one of Daniel’s three friends thrown into a furnace by Nebuchadnezzer, for their refusal to worship any god but God. It is one young man’s brief account of the three youth’s time in the fiery furnace and the hymn of praise they sang (with the refrain, “Praise and exalt Him above all forever…”, repeated many times, each naming a feature of the world) when they realized they were delivered.
It’s beautiful that all this young Azariah (about 15-18 yrs old), had to offer was a contrite heart; at this point there was no leverage to bargain and no real opportunity to sacrifice. He was in the fire yet his trust remained absolute.
There is no substitute for a contrite heart.
The Prayer of Azariah:
1 And they walked in the midst of the fire, praising God, and blessing the Lord.
2 Then Azarias stood up, and prayed on this manner; and opening his mouth in the midst of the fire said,
3 Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers: thy name is worthy to be praised and glorified for evermore:
4 For thou art righteous in all the things that thou hast done to us: yea, true are all thy works, thy ways are right, and all thy judgments truth.
5 In all the things that thou hast brought upon us, and upon the holy city of our fathers, even Jerusalem, thou hast executed true judgment: for according to truth and judgment didst thou bring all these things upon us because of our sins.
6 For we have sinned and committed iniquity, departing from thee.
7 In all things have we trespassed, and not obeyed thy commandments, nor kept them, neither done as thou hast commanded us, that it might go well with us.
8 Wherefore all that thou hast brought upon us, and every thing that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment.
9 And thou didst deliver us into the hands of lawless enemies, most hateful forsakers of God, and to an unjust king, and the most wicked in all the world.
10 And now we cannot open our mouths, we are become a shame and reproach to thy servants; and to them that worship thee.
11 Yet deliver us not up wholly, for thy name’s sake, neither disannul thou thy covenant:
12 And cause not thy mercy to depart from us, for thy beloved Abraham’s sake, for thy servant Issac’s sake, and for thy holy Israel’s sake;
13 To whom thou hast spoken and promised, that thou wouldest multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that lieth upon the seashore.
14 For we, O Lord, are become less than any nation, and be kept under this day in all the world because of our sins.
15 Neither is there at this time prince, or prophet, or leader, or burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place to sacrifice before thee, and to find mercy.
16 Nevertheless in a contrite heart and an humble spirit let us be accepted.
17 Like as in the burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, and like as in ten thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be in thy sight this day, and grant that we may wholly go after thee: for they shall not be confounded that put their trust in thee.
18 And now we follow thee with all our heart, we fear thee, and seek thy face.
19 Put us not to shame: but deal with us after thy lovingkindness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies.
20 Deliver us also according to thy marvellous works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord: and let all them that do thy servants hurt be ashamed;
21 And let them be confounded in all their power and might, and let their strength be broken;
22 And let them know that thou art God, the only God, and glorious over the whole world.
23 And the king’s servants, that put them in, ceased not to make the oven hot with rosin, pitch, tow, and small wood;
24 So that the flame streamed forth above the furnace forty and nine cubits.
25 And it passed through, and burned those Chaldeans it found about the furnace.
26 But the angel of the Lord came down into the oven together with Azarias and his fellows, and smote the flame of the fire out of the oven;
27 And made the midst of the furnace as it had been a moist whistling wind, so that the fire touched them not at all, neither hurt nor troubled them.
28 Then the three, as out of one mouth, praised, glorified, and blessed, God in the furnace, saying,
29 Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever.
30 And blessed is thy glorious and holy name: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever….
Oh Wendelyn! 