Daniel 1:8–21

FAITHFULNESS IN BABYLON

⁸Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food^m or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief eunuch not to defile himself.^{n 9}God had granted Daniel kindness and compassion from the chief eunuch,^{o 10}yet he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and drink. What if he sees your faces looking thinner than the other young men your age? You would endanger my life^E with the king.”

¹¹So Daniel said to the guard whom the chief eunuch had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²“Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see.” ¹⁴He agreed with them about this and tested them for ten days. ¹⁵At the end of ten days they looked better and healthier^F than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.^{p 16}So the guard continued to remove their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

FAITHFULNESS REWARDED

¹⁷God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding^q in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams^r of every kind. ¹⁸At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.^s So they began to attend the king. ²⁰In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them ten times^At better than all the magicians and mediums^u in his entire kingdom. ²¹Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.^v