1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
1:2 And the Lord handed Jehoiakim king of Judah over to him, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his ①god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his ②god.
▷ ①Or gods ②Or gods
1:3 Then the king told Ashpenaz, the chief of his ①officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the ②royal family and of the nobles,
▷ ①Or eunuchs, and so throughout the ch ②Lit seed of the monarchy
1:4 youths in whom there was no impairment, who were good-looking, suitable for instruction in every kind of expertise, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability to ①serve in the king’s ②court; and he ordered Ashpenaz to teach them the ③literature and language of the Chaldeans.
▷ ①Lit stand ②Lit palace ③Or writing
1:5 The king also allotted for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and ordered that they be educated for three years, at the end of which they were to ①enter the king’s personal service.
▷ ①Lit stand before the king
1:6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
1:7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach, and to Azariah Abed-nego.
1:8 But Daniel ①made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.
▷ ①Lit set upon his heart
1:9 Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials.
1:10 The commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has allotted your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking gaunt in comparison to the youths who are your own age? Then you would ①make me forfeit my head to the king.”
▷ ①Lit make my head guilty
1:11 But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
1:12 “Please put your servants to the test for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
1:13 Then let our appearance be ①examined 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.”
▷ ①Lit seen
1:14 So he listened to them in this matter, and put them to the test for ten days.
1:15 And at the end of ten days their appearance seemed better, and ①they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food.
▷ ①Lit fat of flesh
1:16 So the overseer continued to ①withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables.
▷ ①Lit take away
1:17 And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every kind of ①literature and expertise; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.
▷ ①Or writing
1:18 Then at the end of the days which the king had ①specified ②for presenting them, the commander of the officials ③presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.
▷ ①Lit said ②Lit to bring them in ③Lit brought them in
1:19 And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they ①entered the king’s personal service.
▷ ①Lit stood before the king
1:20 As for every matter of expertise ①and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the soothsayer priests and conjurers who were in all his realm.
▷ ①Lit of
1:21 And Daniel ①continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.
▷ ①Lit was until