1 The three young men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, started walking about in the flames, singing hymns to God, and praising him as Lord.
2 Then Azariah stood still and there in the fire he prayed aloud:
3 “O Lord, the God of our ancestors, we praise and adore you; may your name be honoured for ever.
4 You have treated us as we deserve. In everything you have done to us you are always honest, and when you bring us to judgement, you are always fair.
5 You did what was right when you brought disaster upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our ancestors. We deserved that judgement because of our sins.
6 We disobeyed you, we turned our backs on you, and we are guilty of every sin.
7 We did not do the things that you commanded us to do. If we had obeyed your laws, we would have prospered,