You are strongly recommended to add to your library the excellent revised edition of Harper's Bible Dictionary titled, The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary, Revised Edition [book review], edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature (NY: Harper Collins, 1996). It is currently the best one-volume Bible dictionary in English, and it is available at Border's Books, Christian Science Reading Rooms, http://www.borders.com, or http://www.christianbook.com.

Abednego, the new name given to Azariah, one of Daniel’s three companions (Dan. 1:7) who were appointed over the province of Babylon (2:40) and subsequently thrown into the fiery furnace. A lengthy prayer is ascribed to him in the Greek version of Daniel 3. Abed-nego in Hebrew means ‘servant of Nego,’ a pejorative variation of Nebo, a Babylonian god of wisdom.

Azariah (Heb., ‘Yah [God] is mighty’). 1 A Levite musician during the reign of King David (1 Chron. 15:21). 2 The father of Hoshea, the military commander of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Chron. 27:20). 3 A Levite Temple official during the reign of King Hezekiah who helped collect the tithes (2 Chron. 31:13).