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.

Daniel’s Resolve

⁸Now Daniel resolved^s that he would not defile himself with the fine food of the king, and with the wine that he drank,^t and so he requested from the commander of the court officials permission so that he would not defile himself. ⁹And God^u gave Daniel favor and compassion before^v the commander of the court officials, ¹⁰and the commander of the court officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord, the king, who has determined your food and your drink, for why should^w he see your face having a worse appearance than the young men who are your age?^x Then you will endanger my head with the king.” ¹¹Then^y Daniel asked the guard^z whom the commander of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²“Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us some of the vegetables,^a and let us eat and let us drink water. ¹³Then^b let our appearances and the appearance of the young men who are eating the fine food of the king be compared before you,^c and then deal with your servants according to what you see.”^d ¹⁴So he agreed to this proposal with them, and he tested them for ten days. ¹⁵And at the end of ten days their appearances appeared better and they were healthier of body than all the young men who were eating the fine food of the king. ¹⁶So^e the guard continued to withhold^f their fine food and the wine of their drink, and he gave them^g vegetables.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

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”
sLiterally “Daniel placed upon his heart”
tLiterally “the wine of his drink”
uHebrew “the God”
vLiterally “to the face of”
wLiterally “to what would”
xLiterally “like your age”; “your” is plural
yHebrew “And”
zOr “overseer”
aLiterally “from the vegetables”
bHebrew “And”
cLiterally “in your presence”
dLiterally “and according to/that you see”
eLiterally “And it happened”
fLiterally “he was … withdrawing”
gHebrew “to them”