Prayer of Azaria & Song of the Three 1

CHAPTER 1

¹And they walked in the midst of the flame, and praised God, and blessed the Lord.

²Forsooth Azariah stood, and prayed thus; and he opened his mouth in the midst of the fire, and said,

³Lord, God of our fathers, thou art blessed, [or Blessed art thou, Lord God of our Fathers] , and worthy to be praised, and thy name is glorious into worlds;

⁴for thou art rightful in all things which thou didest to us, and all thy works be true; and thy ways be rightful [or right] , and thy dooms be true.

⁵For thou hast done true dooms, by [or after] all things which thou broughtest in on us, and on Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers; for in truth and in doom, thou broughtest in all these things for our sins.

⁶For we sinned, and did wickedly, going away from thee,

⁷and we trespassed in all things, and we heard not, neither kept thy commandments, neither we did as thou commandedest to us, that it should be [or that it were] well to us.

⁸Therefore thou didest by thy very doom all things which thou broughtest in on us, and all things which thou didest to us;

⁹and thou hast betaken us in the hands of enemies, wicked men, and worst trespassers, and to the unjust king, and worst over all earth.

¹⁰And now we may not open the mouth; we be made shame and reproof to thy servants, and to them that worship thee.

¹¹We beseech, give thou [or betake] not us to enemies without end, for thy name, and destroy thou not thy testament,

¹²and take thou not away thy mercy from us, for Abraham, thy darling [or thy dearworthy] , and Isaac, thy servant, and Israel, [or Jacob] , thine holy;

¹³to which thou spakest, promising that thou shouldest multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as gravel which is in the brink of the sea.

¹⁴For why, Lord, we be made little, more than all folks [or all heathen men] , and we be low in all earth today [or we be meek in each land this day] , for our sins.

¹⁵And in this time is no prince [or there is not in this time prince] , and duke, and prophet, neither burnt sacrifice, neither sacrifice, neither offering, neither incense, neither place of first fruits before thee, that we may find thy mercy;

¹⁶but be we received in contrite soul, and in spirit of meekness.

¹⁷As in burnt sacrifice of rams, and of bulls, and as in thousands of fat lambs, so our sacrifice be made today in thy sight, that it please thee; for no shame [or confusion] is to them that trust in thee.

¹⁸And now we pursue thee in all the heart, and we dread thee, and we seek thy face.

¹⁹Shame thou not us, but do with us by [or after] thy mildness, and by [or after] the multitude of thy mercy.

²⁰And deliver thou us in thy marvels, and give thou glory to thy name, Lord; and all men be ashamed, that show evils to thy servants;

²¹be they shamed in all thy might [or power] , and the strength of them be all-broken [or broken altogether] ;

²²and they shall know, that thou art the Lord God alone, and glorious on the roundness of lands [or of earths] .

²³And the ministers of the king, that had sent them, ceased not to make hot the furnace with cement [or with naphtha] , and hards of flax [or of hemp] , and pitch, and scions [or cuttings] of vines.

²⁴And the flame was shed [or poured] out over the furnace by nine and forty cubits,

²⁵and brake out, and burnt them that it found of Chaldees beside the furnace. [and brake out, and burnt whom of Chaldees it found beside the furnace.]

²⁶Forsooth the angel of the Lord came down with Azariah and his fellows, into the furnace, and smote out the flame of the fire from the furnace;

²⁷and made the midst of the furnace as the wind of dew blowing; and utterly the fire touched not them, neither made sorry [or sorrowful] , neither did anything of dis-ease [or brought in anything of heaviness] .

²⁸Then these three as of one mouth praised and glorified God, and blessed God in the furnace, and said,

²⁹Lord God of our fathers, thou art blessed [or Blessed are thou, Lord God of our fathers] , and worthy to be praised, and glorious, and above enhanced into worlds;

³⁰and blessed is the name of thy glory, which name is holy, and worthy to be praised, and above enhanced [or raised] into all worlds.

³¹Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] in the holy temple of thy glory, and above praiseable, and glorious into worlds.

³²Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] in the throne of thy realm, and above praiseable, and above enhanced [or raised] into worlds.

³³Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] , that beholdest depths of waters [or deepnesses] , and sittest [up] on cherubim, and praiseable, and above enhanced [or raised] into worlds.

³⁴Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] in the firmament of heaven, and praiseable, and glorious into worlds.

³⁵All works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

³⁶Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

³⁷Heavens, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

³⁸All waters that be above heavens, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

³⁹All the virtues of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁰Sun and moon, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴¹Stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴²Rain and dew, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴³Each spirit of God, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁴Fire and heat, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁵Cold and summer, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁶Dews and white frost, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁷Black frost and cold, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁸Ices and snows, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁴⁹Nights and days, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁰Light and darkness, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵¹Lightnings and clouds, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵²The earth bless the Lord; praise it, and above enhance [or raise] it him into worlds.

⁵³Mountains and little hills, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁴All burgeoning things in earth, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁵Wells, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁶Seas and floods, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁷Whales, and all things that be moved in waters, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁸All birds of the air, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁵⁹All wild beasts and tame beasts, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁶⁰Sons of men, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁶¹Israel, bless the Lord; praise it, and above enhance [or raise] it him into worlds.

⁶²Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁶³Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁶⁴Spirits and souls of just men, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁶⁵Holy men and meek of [or in] heart, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

⁶⁶Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds. The which Lord ravished [or delivered] us from hell, and saved from the hand of death, and delivered us from the midst of flame burning [or from the middle of the burning flame] , and ravished us from [or out of] the midst of [the] fire.

⁶⁷Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is into the world.

⁶⁸All religious men [or All religious] , bless ye the Lord, God of gods; praise ye, and acknowledge to him, for his mercy is into all worlds.