a herald announced in a loud voice, "People of all nations, races, and languages!

"Your Majesty, you are the tree, tall and strong. You have grown so great that you reach the sky, and your power extends over the whole world.

'I am going to send for all the peoples from the north and for my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. I am going to bring them to fight against Judah and its inhabitants and against all the neighboring nations. I am going to destroy this nation and its neighbors and leave them in ruins forever, a terrible and shocking sight. I, the LORD, have spoken.

This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighboring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years.

I will punish Babylonia with all the disasters that I threatened to bring on the nations when I spoke through Jeremiah---all the disasters recorded in this book.

"By my great power and strength I created the world, human beings, and all the animals that live on the earth; and I give it to anyone I choose.

All nations will serve him, and they will serve his son and his grandson until the time comes for his own nation to fall. Then his nation will serve powerful nations and great kings.

Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless---like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves.

Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God's permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God.

At that, the king flew into a rage and ordered the execution of all the royal advisers in Babylon.

So the order was issued for all of them to be killed, including Daniel and his friends.

Anyone who does not bow down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace."

And he commanded the strongest men in his army to tie the three men up and throw them into the blazing furnace.

So they tied them up, fully dressed---shirts, robes, caps, and all---and threw them into the blazing furnace.

"And now I command that if anyone of any nation, race, or language speaks disrespectfully of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he is to be torn limb from limb, and his house is to be made a pile of ruins. There is no other god who can rescue like this."

A wise person will try to keep the king happy; if the king becomes angry, someone may die.

Jesus answered, "You have authority over me only because it was given to you by God. So the man who handed me over to you is guilty of a worse sin."