Daniel 3:17 (DBY)

Passage

If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver [us] out of thy hand, O king.

Nearby Context

Daniel 3:15 Now if ye be ready at the time that ye hear the sound of the cornet, pipe, lute, sambuca, psaltery, and bagpipe, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, [well]: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast that same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace: and who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

Daniel 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter.

Daniel 3:17 If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver [us] out of thy hand, O king.

Daniel 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image that thou hast set up.

Daniel 3:19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "serve", "able", "deliver", "burning", "fiery", "furnace", and "hand". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "serve" and "able", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said..." into verse 18's "But if not be it known unto...", so "serve" and "able" belong inside that flow. In Daniel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "serve" and "able" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.