Daniel 1:9-13

1:9 Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel. ¹  1:10 But he ²  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ³  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ⁴  If that happened, ⁵  you would endanger my life ⁶  with the king!” 1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden ⁷  whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: 1:12 “Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink. 1:13 Then compare our appearance ⁸  with that of ⁹  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ¹⁰  deal with us ¹¹  in light of what you see.”

¹ tn Heb “Then God granted Daniel loyal love and compassion before the overseer of the court officials.” The expression “loyal love and compassion” is a hendiadys; the two words combine to express one idea.

² tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

³ tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.

⁴ tn Heb “Why should he see your faces thin from the young men who are according to your age?” The term translated “thin” occurs only here and in Gen 40:6, where it appears to refer to a dejected facial expression. The word is related to an Arabic root meaning “be weak.” See HALOT 277 s.v. II זעף.

⁵ tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.

⁷ sn Having failed to convince the overseer, Daniel sought the favor of the warden whom the overseer had appointed to care for the young men.

⁸ tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”

⁹ tn Heb “the appearance of.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.

¹¹ tn Heb “your servants.”