Daniel 1:8–21

Daniel’s Heart

⁸But Daniel set in his heart that he would not ^adefile himself with the ^bking’s choice food or with the ^cwine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.

⁹Now God granted Daniel ^alovingkindness and compassion before the commander of the officials,

¹⁰and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would ¹make me forfeit my head to the king.”

¹¹But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

¹²“Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be ^agiven some vegetables to eat and water to drink.

¹³“Then let our appearance be ¹observed before you and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

¹⁴So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵At the end of ten days it was seen that their appearance was ^abetter and that ¹they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food.

¹⁶So the overseer continued to ¹withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept ^agiving them vegetables.

¹⁷And as for these four youths, ^aGod gave them knowledge and insight in every branch of ¹literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of ^bvisions and dreams.

¹⁸Then at the end of the days which the king had spoken of for bringing them in, the commander of the officials brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁹And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like ^aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they ^bstood in service before the king.

²⁰And as for every matter of ^awisdom in understanding which the king sought from them, he found them ^bten times ^cbetter than all the ^1dmagicians and conjurers who were in all his kingdom.

²¹And Daniel ¹continued until the ^afirst year of Cyrus the king.