The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children, abbreviated ''Pr Azar'', is a passage which appears after Daniel 3:23 in some translations of the

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, including the ancient Greek

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

translation. The passage is accepted by some Christian denominations as

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...

. The passage includes three main components. The first is the penitential prayer of Daniel's friend Azariah (called Abednego in Babylonian, according to ) while the three youths were in the fiery furnace. The second component is a brief account of a radiant figure who met them in the furnace yet who was unburned. The third component is the hymn of praise they sang when they realized their deliverance. The hymn includes the refrain, "Praise and exalt Him above all forever...", repeated many times, each naming a feature of the world.

Texts and origin

The Prayer and accompanying Song are not found in the Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Book of Daniel, nor are they cited in any extant early Jewish writings. The origins of these writings are obscure. Whether the accounts were originally composed in Hebrew (or Aramaic) or in Greek is uncertain, although many modern scholars conclude on the basis of textual evidence that there was probably an original Semitic edition. The date of composition of these documents is also uncertain, although many scholars favor a date either in the second or first century B.C.

Canonicity

It is accepted as canonical scripture by

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and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

Christians, but rejected by Protestants. Article VI of the

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of the

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has it listed as non-canonical (but still, with the other Apocryphal texts, "the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners"). The passage is included in 80-book

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s in the section of the

Apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

References

External links

* in the NAB * in the

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, a translation lacking this section, for comparison. *Text and commentary in th
NETBIBLE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prayer of Azariah 2nd-century BC books 1st-century BC books Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Canticles Additions to Daniel

Texts and origin

Canonicity

See also

References

External links