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.

¹⁷And as for these four young men,^h Godⁱ gave to them knowledge and insight into all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had insight into all visions^j and dreams. ¹⁸And at the end of the time the king had set to bring them, the commander of the court officials brought them in before^k Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹And the king spoke with them, and among all of them no one was found like^l Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; then they stood before^m the king. ²⁰And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired from them, he found them ten times better than all of the magiciansⁿ and conjurers^o that were in his entire kingdom.^p ²¹And Daniel was there until the first year of Cyrus the king.

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Footnotes

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”
hLiterally “And these young men, four of them”
iHebrew “the God”
jHebrew “vision”
kLiterally “to the face of”
lLiterally “and he was not found from all of them like”
mLiterally “to the face of”
nOr “soothsayer-priests”
oOr “enchanters”
pLiterally “in the whole of his kingdom”