il.lekh is a demonstrative pronoun pointing to particular persons or groups already identified in a scene.

The attested demonstrative forms point back to persons or groups already under discussion, including the named men before the king and the group seen after the fire.

1. Demonstrative reference to identified persons · dominant

   All supplied tokens are tagged Pronoun · Demonstrative. In Daniel 3:12 the form occurs where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are named; in Daniel 3:21 and Daniel 3:23 the APB renders the surrounding clauses with “these men” and “these three men” as they are bound and cast into the furnace. In Daniel 3:27 the same demonstrative reference is present in the report that the fire had no power over the men’s bodies.

   Daniel 3:12Daniel 3:21Daniel 3:23Daniel 3:27

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the surrounding demonstrative reference with phrases such as “these men” and “these three men.” Those English phrases indicate the clause-level presentation rather than a fixed rendering for every token.