Daniel 1:1–21

The Choice Young Men

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

²The ^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 ^dgod.

³Then the king ¹ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his ²officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the ³royal ^afamily and of the nobles,

⁴youths in whom was ^ano defect, who were good-looking, showing ^bintelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for ¹serving in the king’s ²court; and he ordered him to teach them the ³literature and ^clanguage of the ^dChaldeans.

⁵The 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 ^2benter the king’s personal service.

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

⁷Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name ^aBelteshazzar, to Hananiah ^bShadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.

Daniel’s Resolve

⁸But Daniel ¹made up his mind 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 ^1afavor and compassion in the sight of 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 in your presence 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 their appearance seemed ^abetter and 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.

¹⁷As for these four youths, ^aGod gave them knowledge and intelligence 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 ¹specified ²for presenting them, the commander of the officials ³presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁹The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like ^aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they ^1bentered the king’s personal service.

²⁰As for every matter of ^awisdom ¹and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ^bten times ^cbetter than all the ^2dmagicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.

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