1:3 The king commanded 5 Ashpenaz, 6 who was in charge of his court officials, 7 to choose 8 some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent 9 –
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 tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”
6 sn It is possible that the word Ashpenaz is not a proper name at all, but a general term for “innkeeper.” See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia), 127, n. 9. However, the ancient versions understand the term to be a name, and the present translation (along with most English versions) understands the word in this way.
7 sn The word court official (Hebrew saris) need not mean “eunuch” in a technical sense (see Gen 37:36, where the term refers to Potiphar, who had a wife), although in the case of the book of Daniel there was in Jewish literature a common tradition to that effect. On the OT usage of this word see HALOT 769-70 s.v. סָרֹיס.
8 tn Heb “bring.”
9 tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”