Isaiah 43:2
1 Now, this is what the Lord says, the one who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: “Don’t be afraid, for I will protect you. I call you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your deliverer. I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price, Ethiopia and Seba in place of you. 4 Since you are precious and special in my sight and I love you, I will hand over people in place of you, nations in place of your life.
Daniel 3:25
23 But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace of blazing fire while still securely bound. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, “Wasn’t it three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied to the king, “For sure, O king.” 25 He answered, “But I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire. He called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out! Come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged from the fire. 27 Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically unharmed by the fire. The hair of their heads was not singed, nor were their trousers damaged. Not even the smell of fire was to be found on them!
Notes and References
"... Isaiah 43:2 is frequently cited in association with Daniel 3, the latter even being described as a “midrash” on the former. There are considerable warrants for discerning in Daniel 3 an allusion to Isaiah 43:2. However, according to the form-critical criteria adopted in this work, the term “midrash” — an exegetical genre in which the citing text appears to exist “for the sake of elucidating” the source text — would be misleading. First, Daniel 3 does not appear to see Isaiah 43:2 as confusing or in any way requiring explanation. Second, the story of the three friends has many purposes of its own, independent of working with Isaiah 43:2: it continues certain Danielic themes like the conversion of the foreign monarch and the defeat of rivals in the court; it further develops the characters of the three youths; and it brings a certain comic relief with its incessant listings of titular offices, musical instruments, articles of clothing, personal names, and so forth. Thus, to claim that the primary purpose of Daniel 3 is to exegete Isaiah 43:2 proves reductionist, overlooking the chapter’s many narrative functions to which an allusion to Isaiah 43:2 is pressed into service ..."
Lester, G. Brooke Daniel Evokes Isaiah: Allusive Characterization of Foreign Rule in the Hebrew-Aramaic Book of Daniel (p. 118) Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015