Daniel 1:1–7

Daniel Brought to Babylon

¹In the third year of the reign of ^aJehoiakim king of Judah, ^bNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

²And the ^aLord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the ^bvessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of ^cShinar, to the house of his ¹god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his ^2dgod.

³Then the king said for Ashpenaz, the chief of his ¹officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal ^aseed and of the nobles,

⁴youths in whom was ^ano defect, who were good in appearance, showing ^binsight in every branch of wisdom, being thoroughly ¹knowledgeable and discerning knowledge, and who had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and he said for him to teach them the ²literature and ^ctongue of the ^dChaldeans.

⁵And the king appointed for them a daily ration from the ^aking’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be ¹educated three years, at the end of which they were to ^bstand before the king.

⁶Now among them from the sons of Judah were ^aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

⁷Then the commander of the officials set names for them; and for Daniel he set the name ^aBelteshazzar, for Hananiah ^bShadrach, for Mishael ^cMeshach, and for Azariah ^dAbed-nego.