Scriptures & Texts
Additions to Daniel
Deuterocanonical Books
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Three passages present in the Greek Daniel but not in the Hebrew and Aramaic: the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men, sung within the fiery furnace; the tale of Susanna, falsely accused by two elders and cleared by the young Daniel's cross-examination; and Bel and the Dragon, two stories in which Daniel exposes the fraud of idol-priests and destroys a venerated serpent. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles receive all three as deuterocanonical and integrate them into Daniel, Susanna commonly as chapter 13 and Bel and the Dragon as chapter 14. Judaism recognises only the shorter Hebrew-Aramaic book. Protestant Bibles move them to the Apocrypha as three separate pieces. The Prayer and the Song remain in liturgical use as canticles in several churches.
Facts
Origins
Era of Composition Attributed Author / CompilerAnonymous Greek additions, c. 2nd-1st c. BCE (critical) 1 Attributed Author / CompilerTraditionally part of Daniel 1 Status
Canonical StatusSourced to the subject's own accountDeuterocanonical 2Tradition: Eastern Orthodoxy Canonical StatusSourced to the subject's own accountDeuterocanonical 3Tradition: Roman Catholicism Canonical StatusNon-canonical 1Tradition: Judaism Text
Literary FormDidactic narrative / novella 1 Structure
StructureThree additions: the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon 1 Learn More
Three Greek Supplements to Daniel
The Additions to Daniel are three passages found in the Greek versions of the Book of Daniel but absent from the shorter Hebrew-Aramaic text that stands in the Jewish and Protestant Bibles. They are: the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men, inserted into the story of the fiery furnace, in which Daniel's three companions pray and then sing a great hymn of praise (the Benedicite) as they walk unharmed among the flames; the story of Susanna, a virtuous woman falsely accused of adultery by two lecherous elders and saved when the young Daniel cross-examines the accusers separately and exposes their lie; and Bel and the Dragon, a pair of satirical tales in which Daniel unmasks the fraud of the priests of the idol Bel and destroys a living dragon worshipped as a god, ridiculing idolatry and vindicating the God of Israel. These additions were composed or transmitted in Greek, probably in the second or first century BCE, and were part of the Daniel that the Greek-speaking Jewish and early Christian world received.
Canon and Character
Because they stood in the Septuagint version of Daniel but not in the Hebrew text later fixed by the rabbis, the Additions followed the familiar fate of such material. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches receive them as an integral, deuterocanonical part of the book of Daniel; Judaism and the Protestant Reformers set them apart among the Apocrypha, and in Protestant Bibles that print the Apocrypha they appear separately rather than woven into Daniel. Each has had a rich afterlife.
The Song of the Three Young Men entered Christian worship as a canticle of praise still sung in the churches. Susanna became one of the most popular subjects in Western art and a favourite example in discussions of legal procedure and the examination of witnesses. Bel and the Dragon furnished vivid material for the ancient polemic against idolatry, and its detective-like unmasking of the priests' trick has led some to call it one of the earliest surviving "detective stories." Scholars value the Additions as examples of the devotional and folk-narrative expansion of biblical books in the Second Temple period.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Held Differently
Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571, among the books the Church reads for example of life and instruction of manners but does not apply to establish any doctrine. Printed and appointed to be read, at a status deliberately short of the canon affirmed at Trent in 1546.
Anglicanism, Denominations Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571 (as the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and Bel and the Dragon), among the books the Church of England reads for example of life and instruction of manners, but does not apply to establish doctrine.
Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571, among the books the Church reads for example of life and instruction of manners but does not apply to establish any doctrine. Printed and appointed to be read, at a status deliberately short of the canon affirmed at Trent in 1546.
Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571, among the books the Church reads for example of life and instruction of manners but does not apply to establish any doctrine. Printed and appointed to be read, at a status deliberately short of the canon affirmed at Trent in 1546.
Named in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, 1571, among the books the Church reads for example of life and instruction of manners but does not apply to establish any doctrine. Printed and appointed to be read, at a status deliberately short of the canon affirmed at Trent in 1546.
Church of Sweden, Denominations Not canonized, but retained. Luther gathered the deuterocanonical books into a separate Apocrypha section of his 1534 Bible, headed as not equal to Holy Scripture yet good and useful to read, and Lutheran Bibles have printed and read them there since.
Not canonized, but retained. Luther gathered the deuterocanonical books into a separate Apocrypha section of his 1534 Bible, headed as not equal to Holy Scripture yet good and useful to read, and Lutheran Bibles have printed and read them there since.
Lutheranism, Denominations Lutheranism does not canonize Additions to Daniel. Luther placed the deuterocanonical books in a separate section of his 1534 Bible as good and useful to read, but not equal to scripture.
Belongs to Tradition
Held as canonical scripture in the Eastern Orthodox Old Testament, affirmed at the Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, as part of the Greek additions to Daniel.
Declared canonical scripture for the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent, Session IV, 1546, as part of the Greek additions to Daniel.
Excluded from Canon
Anabaptism, Denominations This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
Baptist, Denominations This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
Protestantism, Denominations The Protestant confessional consensus holds a thirty-nine-book Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, against the wider canon affirmed at Trent in 1546 and at Jerusalem in 1672. Lutheran and Anglican practice retains several of these books as edifying reading while denying them authority to establish doctrine.
This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
This tradition holds the standard thirty-nine-book Protestant Old Testament and does not canonize Additions to Daniel, following the confessional consensus among Protestant bodies against the wider Trent and Synod of Jerusalem deuterocanon.
Sources
1. An Introduction to the Apocrypha
Bruce M. Metzger, Oxford University Press, 1957The chapters on Susanna, on Bel and the Dragon, and on the Prayer of AzariahView the Source 2. The Confession of Dositheus (Synod of Jerusalem, 1672)
Synod of Jerusalem, Eastern Orthodox Church, 1672Vol. I, Article III canon discussionQuote, Vol. I, Article III canon discussion
The following Apocrypha are expressly mentioned (Vol. I. p. 467): The Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, Tobit, History of the Dragon, History of Susannah, the books of the Maccabees, the Wisdom of Sirach.
3. Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent
Council of Trent, 1563Fourth Session (1546), receiving Daniel with Susanna and Bel and the Dragonthe holders' own accountView the Source The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
Church of England, 1571Page descriptionQuote, Page description
The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion outline the doctrinal foundation of the Church of England. They address key theological issues such as the nature of God, the role of the Holy Scriptures, and the sacraments.
The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority
The Holy Bible
Anonymous (multiple authors), Robert Barker, 1611Daniel (Greek additions)View the Source The Westminster Confession of Faith
The Belgic Confession
Guido de Bres, 1561Article 6Quote, Article 6
We distinguish between these holy books and the apocryphal ones, which are the third and fourth books of Esdras; the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Sirach, Baruch; what was added to the Story of Esther; the Song of the Three Children in the Furnace; the Story of Susannah; the Story of Bel and the Dragon; the Prayer of Manasseh; and the two books of Maccabees.
Festal Letter 39
Athanasius of Alexandria, 367The 367 list receiving Daniel in its longer Greek form
Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
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