Daniel 1:8–21

Daniel’s Faithfulness

⁸But Daniel ^sresolved that he would not ^tdefile himself with ^kthe king’s food, or with ^lthe wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to ^tdefile himself. ^9uAnd God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, ¹⁰and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” ¹¹Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²“Test your servants for ^vten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat ^kthe king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” ¹⁴So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. ¹⁵At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate ^kthe king’s food. ^16wSo the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them ^xvegetables.

¹⁷As for these four youths, ^yGod gave them learning and ^zskill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had ^aunderstanding in all visions and dreams. ¹⁸At the end of ^bthe time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore ^cthey stood before the king. ²⁰And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all ^dthe magicians and ^eenchanters that were in all his kingdom. ²¹And Daniel ^fwas there until the first year of ^gKing Cyrus.