‘Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation and language who speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill. Because there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.'
He still had the heart of a despot, the power of life and death. And he replaced his previous decree with one that protected the name and reputation of the God of heaven, the God of the three men, Who had proved Himself supreme. From now on to speak amiss of Him in any way meant an instant, terrible and degrading death and destruction of all property. For the phrase about the punishment compare Daniel 2:5. This similarity emphasises the unity of the book. It is not just a group of separate stories.