Daniel 1:1–7

Daniel Taken to Babylon

1In the third year of ^athe reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of ^bthe vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to ^cthe land of Shinar, to the house of his god, ^dand placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. ³Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, ^ehis chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family¹ and of ^fthe nobility, ⁴youths without ^gblemish, of good appearance and ^hskillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to ⁱteach them the literature and language of the ^jChaldeans. ⁵The king assigned them a daily portion of ^kthe food that the king ate, and of ^lthe wine that he drank. They were to be educated for ^mthree years, and at the end of that time they were to ⁿstand before the king. ⁶Among these were ^oDaniel, ^pHananiah, ^pMishael, and ^pAzariah of the tribe of Judah. ⁷And ^ethe chief of the eunuchs ^qgave them names: ^rDaniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.