Daniel 1:6-7

1:6 As it turned out, ¹  among these young men ²  were some from Judah: ³  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁴  1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ⁵  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “and it happened that.”

² tn Heb “among them”; the referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

⁴ sn The names reflect a Jewish heritage. In Hebrew Daniel means “God is my judge”; Hananiah means “the Lord is gracious”; Mishael means “who is what God is?”; Azariah means “the Lord has helped.”

⁵ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

⁶ sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.