The three companions in Babylon who had voluntarily surrendered their lives to the flames so as not to serve vain things … : The three companions in Babylon refers to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Dan 3.8-30 and the Song of the Three Young Men. The direct object (The three companions) of the main verb (rescued) opens the sentence. This is the same pattern as in the previous two verses. Babylon was the capital city of the Babylonian Empire. It was located in southern Mesopotamia on a branch of the Euphrates River (about 90 kilometers or 55 miles southwest of modern Baghdad). Voluntarily surrendered their lives to the flames may be rendered “were willing to die by being burned.” Vain things refers to idols.

You rescued unharmed, even to a hair may be rendered “You rescued them completely unhurt, with not even a hair on their bodies burned.” Dan 3.27 mentions that not a hair of their heads was burned.

Moistening the fiery furnace with dew may be expressed as “you protected them with dew in the flaming furnace” or “you used dew to cool the flaming furnace.” TYM 27 (Dan 3.50 in the Catholic Bible) refers to the protecting dew in the furnace. The furnace in view here probably had an opening at the top and another at ground level. It was clearly large enough for men to stand in. Dew is the liquid found on leaves or the petals of flowers in the early morning.

And turning the flame against all their enemies may be translated “You burned all their enemies to death” or even “and burned up their enemies instead” (Contemporary English Version). Dan 3.22 speaks of the fiery death of the men who had thrown the three young men into the flames.

Here is an alternative model for this verse:

• Then there were the three friends, captives in Babylon, who preferred to die by burning to death rather than worship idols. You burned their enemies to death, but you protected them with dew in the flaming furnace [or, you used dew to protect them in the flaming furnace], and rescued them completely unhurt, with not even a hair on their bodies burned.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.