{{short description|Passage after Daniel 3:23 in some translations of the Bible}} [[File:Greek triptych Louvre MI793.jpg|thumb|300px|Greek triptych {{circa|1550}}, with the Three Holy Children in the left panel]] {{Daniel chapters}} The '''Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children''', abbreviated '''''Pr Azar''''',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/14891/frontmatter/9780521714891_frontmatter.pdf|title=The Holy Bible containing The Old and New Testaments with The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized edition|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|page=vii|isbn=978-0-521-71489-1}}</ref> appears after Daniel 3:23 in some translations of the Bible, including the ancient Greek Septuagint translation. The passage is accepted by some Christian denominations as canonical, part of the Deuterocanonical books. In the Revised Standard Version and the English Standard Version (Anglican edition), this text is included as part of the Apocrypha, and titled "The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men".
The passage includes three main components. The first is the penitential prayer of Daniel's friend Azariah (called Abednego in Babylonian, according to {{bibleverse||Daniel|1:6–7|RSV}}) 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== {{external media | topic = | subtopic = | width = | image1 = | audio1 = [https://www.paraklit.org/wp-content/uploads/1-pesn-treh-otrokov.mp3 Singing in Russian Orthodox Church] | audio2 = | video1 = }} 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.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}
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 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Charles |first=C.H. |title=The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha |location=Oxford |date=1913 |publisher=Clarendon Press |url=https://archive.org/details/apocryphapseudep01char}}</ref>
== Canonicity == It is accepted as canonical scripture by Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Assyrian Church of the East Christians, but rejected by most Protestants.<ref name="Belgic">{{Cite web |title=Westminster Theological Seminary - The Belgic Confession |url=https://students.wts.edu/resources/creeds/belgicconfession.html |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=students.wts.edu}}</ref> The passage is included in 80-book Protestant Bibles in the section of the Apocrypha, however.<ref name="Hendrickson2009">{{cite book |title=Apocrypha-KJV-Reader's |date=2009 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=978-1-59856-464-8 |language=English}}</ref> To this end, Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England 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").<ref name="WilsonTempleton1962">{{Cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=W. G. |url=http://assets.newscriptorium.com/anglican/39-articles/wtangteaching.htm |title=Anglican Teaching: An Exposition of The Thirty-Nine Articles |last2=Templeton |first2=J. H. |date=1962 |publisher=Association For Promoting Christian Knowledge |chapter=Chapter II – The Scriptures And Creeds |chapter-url=http://assets.newscriptorium.com/anglican/39-articles/wtangteaching.htm#II}}</ref> The Belgic Confession of the Reformed Churches teaches that "The church may certainly read these [Apocryphal] books and learn from them as far as they agree with the canonical books."<ref name="Belgic"/>
== See also == * Nebuchadnezzar II * Additions to Daniel * Benedicite
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikisource|Bible (King James)/Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children|The King James Version of Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children}} *{{bibleverse||Daniel|3:23–91|NAB}} in the NAB *{{bibleverse||Daniel|3:23–24|NIV}} in the NIV, a translation lacking this section, for comparison. *Text and commentary in the [http://bible.org//netbible/pra1.htm NETBIBLE]
{{Book of Daniel}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Prayer of Azariah}} Category:2nd-century BC books Category:1st-century BC books Category:Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Category:Canticles Category:Additions to Daniel Category:Deuterocanonical books