Daniel 3:13-14

Nebuchadnezzar reacted to the news of the three Jews’ response angrily (cf. Daniel 2:12; Daniel 3:19). He evidently took their disobedience as a personal affront as well as an act of insubordination. Nevertheless he controlled himself sufficiently to give them a second chance to obey and restated the punishment for disobedience. The king distinguished between serving his gods and worshiping his golden image (Daniel 3:14). This confirms that the worship of the image was primarily political rather than religious. However, failure to worship reflected disbelief in the king’s gods, which was evidence of these Jews’ lack of cooperation in things Babylonian.