Daniel 1:3–16

^3*The king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief official, to select from among the Israelite exiles some young men of the royal family and of the noble families. ^4*They had to be handsome, intelligent, well trained, quick to learn, and free from physical defects, so that they would be qualified to serve in the royal court. Ashpenaz was to teach them to read and write the Babylonian language. ⁵The king also gave orders that every day they were to be given the same food and wine as the members of the royal court. After three years of this training they were to appear before the king. ⁶Among those chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all of whom were from the tribe of Judah. ⁷The chief official gave them new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

⁸Daniel made up his mind not to let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him, ⁹and God made Ashpenaz sympathetic to Daniel. ¹⁰Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, “The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you don’t look as fit as the other young men, he may kill me.”

¹¹So Daniel went to the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends. ¹²“Test us for ten days,” he said. “Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look.”

¹⁴He agreed to let them try it for ten days. ¹⁵When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food. ¹⁶So from then on the guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provided.