Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image the prophet Isaiah, warn that worship of such powerless objects is not harmless, however: "Those who worship them will be like them," that is, unseeing, unfeeling, unable to hear the truth that God would communicate to them. The Bible presents Daniel and his companions as distinct, positive examples of individuals refusing to pay homage to another god, even at the price of their lives. During the time of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar erects a gold statue of himself and commands all subjects to worship it. Three Jewish officials – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – who had been taken to Babylon as
Development of the Old Testament canon Development of the Old Testament canon The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or protocanon, and in various Christian denominations also includes deuterocanonical books. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants use different canons, which differ with respect to the texts that are included in the Old Testament. Martin Luther, holding to Jewish and other ancient precedent, excluded the deuterocanonical books from the Old Testament of his translation of the Bible, placing them in a section he labeled