The Worlds Greatest Books - Volume 13 | Page 9

sins, and prayer for
deliverance to the confusion of their enemies. Whereupon, the king's servants that put
them in ceased not to make the oven hot with rosin, pitch, tow, and small wood, so that
the flame passed through and burned those Chaldeans it found about the furnace. But the
Angel of the Lord came down into the oven and made the midst of the furnace as it had
been a moist whistling wind, so that the fire touched Azarias and his fellows not at all,
neither hurt nor troubled them. Then the three, as out of one mouth, praised, glorified,
and blessed God in the furnace, saying: The Lord hath delivered us from hell, and saved
us from the hand of death: for his mercy endureth for ever.
THE HISTORY OF SUSANNA
There dwelt a man in Babylon called Joacim. And he took a wife whose name was
Susanna, a very fair woman, and one that feared the Lord. The same year were appointed
two of the ancients of the people to be judges; and they saw Susanna walking in her
husband's garden, and their lust was inflamed towards her. Now, Susanna went into the
garden to bathe, for it was hot, and dismissed her maids. The two elders, who had hidden
in the garden, rose up and said: Consent and lie with us. If thou wilt not, we will bear
witness against thee that a young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send thy
maids away. Then Susanna cried with a loud voice, and the two elders cried out against
her, and declared their matter. The servants rushed in at the privy door and were greatly

ashamed, for there was never such a report made of Susanna. It came to pass the next day
when the people were assembled to her husband Joacim, with the two elders full of
mischievous imagination against Susanna, these wicked men commanded Susanna to
uncover her face that they might be filled with her beauty, and her friends and all that saw
her wept. Then the elders made their charge which they had agreed upon against Susanna,
and the assembled people believed them: so they condemned her to death. Then Susanna
cried to the Everlasting God, saying: Thou knowest that they have borne false witness
against me, and that I never did such things as these men have maliciously invented
against me. And the Lord heard her voice.
When she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a youth named
Daniel, who said: Are ye such fools, ye sons of Israel, that without examination or
knowledge of the truth ye have condemned a daughter of Israel? Then Daniel put the two
elders aside, one far from the other, to examine them. To the first he said: If thou hast
seen her, under what tree sawest thou them companying together? He answered: Under a
mastic tree. Daniel said: Very well; and he put him aside and commanded the other to be
brought. Tell me, he said, under what tree didst thou take them companying together? He
answered: Under an holm tree. Then Daniel said: These men have lied against their own
heads, for even now the Angel of God waiteth with the sword that he may destroy them.
Then all the assembly arose against the two elders, for Daniel had convicted them of false
witness by their own mouth; and they put them to death. Thus the innocent blood was
saved the same day; and from that time forth was Daniel had in great reputation in the
sight of the people.
THE HISTORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF BEL AND THE DRAGON
When Cyrus of Persia received his kingdom, Daniel conversed with him, and was
honoured above all his friends. Now, the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, which the
king worshipped, but Daniel worshipped his own God. The king said unto him: Why dost
thou not worship Bel? Daniel answered: Because I may not worship idols made with
hands, but the living God. Then the king said: Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living god?
Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day? Then Daniel smiled and said:
O king, be not deceived; for this is but clay within and brass without, and it never eateth
or drinketh anything. Then trial was made by order of the king, and meat and wine were
set in the temple, the door made fast, and sealed with the king's signet. The priests of Bel
were three score and ten, besides their wives and children, and they little regarded the
trial, for under the table they had made a privy entrance, whereby they entered the temple
continually and consumed the meat and the wine. But