The Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint (LXX), varies from the Hebrew in several respects, including entire books absent from the latter. These are known as Deuterocanonical by Roman Catholics and Apocrypha by Protestants. Included are additions to two books within the undisputed canon, namely, Esther and Daniel. One of the additions to Daniel comes in the third chapter, which recounts the episode in which the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar consigns three Hebrew young men, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, to the fiery furnace for not bowing down to the golden image that the king had set up. In the Hebrew version, the three young men simply emerge from the ordeal unscathed, much to the king's astonishment, but with little fanfare. In the Greek version, the author ascribes an entire canticle to the three youths which they sing during the ordeal. It is generally known by its first words in Latin, Benedicite omnia opera, about which I wrote 16 years ago, and in English as the Song of the Three Youths or the Song of the Three Holy Children.
What I did not note then is that this canticle borrows its thematic structure rather freely from Psalm 148 while drawing on Psalm 136 for its antiphonal character. This can be seen in the images below, which you can click on to get a larger view:
Although most Protestants do not consider this canticle part of the canon of the Scriptures, many have nevertheless used it liturgically, especially Anglicans and Lutherans. It is found in the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer, where it is prescribed for Morning Prayer. The Lutheran Book of Worship includes it as number 18 in the section for canticles. A friend of mine owns a 16th-century edition of the Geneva Bible that includes the Benedicite among the liturgical material at the end, along with Sternhold & Hopkins' metrical Psalter. Indeed, it's a beautiful text that deserves to be sung by Christians everywhere.
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