Daniel 3:20

Dan 3:20 And he commanded the most mighty men that [were] in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, [and] to cast [them] into the burning fiery furnace.

Ver. 20. And he commanded the most mighty men.] That they might be the more strongly bound, and no resistance made.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

[Daniel 3:20] And to men, mighty warriors (וּלְגֻבְרִין גִּבָּֽרֵי־חַיִל - ul'guvrin gibbarei-chayil): [Meaning] those who are in his armies (she-hem b'tziv'otav).

To bind (לְכַפָּתָה - l'khappata): [Means] to tie (likshor).

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Verse 20. The most mighty men] The generals, or chief officers of his army; not strong men, there was no need of such.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) The most mighty men.—He selected these as being the most likely to be able to bear the unusual heat of the fire. Whether he had any expectation that some attempt at a rescue would be made does not appear. We may gather, however, that the army was present at this horrible tragedy.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. the most] certain (lit. men: cf. in Heb. Deu_13:13 (14); Jdg_19:22; 1Ki_11:17).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army,.... The most famous for courage of mind, and strength of body, that were in all his army:

to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego either their hands or their feet, or both; unless it can be thought that they were all three bound together in one bundle, and so cast into the furnace; which is not improbable, as Gejerus observes; seeing the king afterwards wondered to see them walk separately in the furnace: there was no need to bind them, for they would not have resisted; and if he ordered this to secure them from the power of their God, it was vain and foolish:

and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace: if they were all three bound together, it required some able bodied men to take them up and cast them in, especially if the furnace was above them; though it is more probable that it was a more depressed place, or below them, and so the cast was more easy.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army - Margin, “mighty of strength.” Chaldee, “And to mighty men, mighty men of strength who were in his army, he said.” He employed the strongest men that could be found for this purpose.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Strongest. Chaldee: "mighty in strength;" (Haydock) his own guards, the usual executioners.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Did he think these three men would have resisted, or that their God would defend them from his power, or that, if he had, the king and his mighty men could have prevailed? None of all this was in the case, for God purposed to show his power when the king did his worst, and to quench the violence of the fire, both of the furnace and of the king’s fury, at once; and in the thing wherein he dealt proudly, to be above him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. This choice of executioners was made in order to add impressiveness to this public warning against disobedience to the king and disrespect to the national gods. How puny and weak these Hebrew youths appear beside these giants of the royal bodyguard.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. The first clause might more correctly be rendered, "He commanded warriors, warriors of might, in his army." The Greek versions assume that the repetition of gubereen is equivalent to the superlative; hence the LXX renders it andrav ijscurotatouv; and Theodotion, andrav ijscurouv ijscui". The Peshitta omits the first gubreen. On the other hand, Theodotiun omits the clause, "that were in his army." The action of Nebuchadnezzar in this reveals one of the contradictions so often manifested by polytheism. He might be ready to admit that no accumulation of human power could equal Divine power, yet it is obvious that these men of might were chosen for this purpose, in order that, despite Divine power, the royal sentence might be carried out. Such self-contradiction is not peculiar to Nebuchadnezzar nor to Babylon. Many men, professing to be Christians and acknowledging that God sees and knows all things, and that the wrath of God is an infinitely more serious mattter than the contempt or "ill will" of men, yet commit sin secretly to hide it from God. Hitzig indicates that he thinks these not to have been the ordinary body-guard of the king, but really the best troops in the province where the festival was taking place. It is evident that the troops referred to are not those tabbaheen of whom Arioch was the commander, otherwise we might have expected them to be mentioned. We know that there were different classes of soldiers in the Assyrian army, with differing kinds of arms and armour. In all probability something similar prevailed in the Babylonian army. It is not impossible that one corps might be specialized as the men of greatest physical strength. These men are employed to bind these three Jews to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To bind - What did he think these three men would have refused? Or that their God would defend them from his power, or that if he had, his mighty men could have prevailed? None of all this was the case; for God purposed to shew his power when the king did his worst, and in the thing wherein he dealt proudly, to be above him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

certain mighty men in his army [as translated,] certain mighty men in his army.

And he commanded...to bind He commanded to bind them because he saw that they were strengthening themselves to answer him harshly, and he said, “These are mighty”; so he commanded the mighty men in his army to bind them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.