Daniel 3:6

And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.”

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Nebuchadnezzar’s decree commands every nation and language to prostrate themselves before the golden statue the moment the musical instruments sound. The text states that refusal triggers an immediate threat of execution by the royal officials.

The words — The Hebrew יִתְרְמֵ֔א (yit.re.Me') means “he will be thrown,” while שַׁעֲתָ֣/א (sha.'a.Ta/) denotes “the moment” or “immediately,” anchoring the penalty to instant execution.

The thread — The imagery of being cast into a fiery furnace for judgment recurs in Matthew 13:42 and Matthew 13:50, and the curse formula for Babylonian exiles appears in Jeremiah 29:22.

Why it lands — The verse forces a direct confrontation between royal idolatry and personal survival, demanding a clear choice between compliance and physical destruction.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וּמַן־u./man-and/ whoever דִּי־di-that לָ֥אla'not יִפֵּ֖לyi.Pelhe will fall down וְיִסְגֻּ֑דve./yis.Gudso/ he may pay homageבַּהּ־ba/h-at/ itשַׁעֲתָ֣אsha.'a.Ta/'moment/ the יִתְרְמֵ֔אyit.re.Me'he will be thrown לְגֽוֹא־le./goy'-to/ [the] midst of אַתּ֥וּן'a.Tun[the] furnace of נוּרָ֖אnu.Ra/'fire/ the יָקִֽדְתָּֽא׃ya.Kid.Ta/'<the>/ burning

King James Version

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Cross-references

Matthew 13:42 And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jeremiah 29:22 Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’
Daniel 3:11 and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the statue I have made, very good. But if you refuse to worship, you will be thrown at once into the blazing fiery furnace. Then what god will be able to deliver you from my hands?”
Ezekiel 22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.
Revelation 9:2 The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,