1In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim the king of Judah into his hand and some of^a of the utensils of the temple of God,^b and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the temple of his gods, and he brought the utensils to the treasury^c of his gods.

³And the king ordered^d Ashpenaz, the commander of his court officials, to bring some of the Israelites^e from the royal family^f and from the lords,^g ⁴youths who have no physical defect,^h and who are handsome,ⁱ and who are prudent^j in all wisdom and endowed with knowledge,^k and who understand insight, and who have the ability^l in them to serve in the palace of the king. And the king ordered him to teach them the literature and the language of the Chaldeans. ⁵And the king assigned to them his daily portion^m from the fine food of the king, and from the wine that he drank,ⁿ and instructed that they were to be educated for three years.^o And at the end of their training, they were to be stationed^p before^q the king. ⁶Now there was among them from the Judeans,^r Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ⁷And the commander of the court officials gave them names, and he called Daniel, Belteshazzar; and Hananiah, Shadrach; and Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abednego.

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Footnotes

aLiterally “from the end/extremity/limits”
bHebrew “the God”
cLiterally “the house of the treasury”
dLiterally “said to”
eLiterally “from the sons/children of Israel”
fLiterally “from the seed of the kingship”
gOr “nobles”
hLiterally “there is not in them any physical defect”
iLiterally “good/pleasing of appearance”
jOr “insightful”
kLiterally “who have knowledge of knowledge”
lLiterally “strength”
mLiterally “the portion of the day on its day”
nLiterally “the wine of his drink”
oLiterally “and to be educated them years three”
pLiterally “they would stand”
qLiterally “to the face of”
rLiterally “from the children of Judah”