Daniel 1:11-21

1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden ¹  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 ²  with that of ³  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ⁴  deal with us ⁵  in light of what you see.” 1:14 So the warden ⁶  agreed to their proposal ⁷  and tested them for ten ⁸  days.

1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ⁹  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies. 1:16 So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine ¹⁰  from their diet ¹¹  and gave them a diet of vegetables instead. 1:17 Now as for these four young men, God endowed them with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom – and Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.

1:18 When the time appointed by the king arrived, ¹²  the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence. 1:19 When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group ¹³  anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service. ¹⁴  1:20 In every matter of wisdom and ¹⁵  insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times ¹⁶  better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire. 1:21 Now Daniel lived on until the first ¹⁷  year of Cyrus the king.

[1:11]  ¹ 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.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”

[1:13]  ³ tn Heb “the appearance of.”

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “your servants.”

[1:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the warden mentioned in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “listened to them with regard to this matter.”

[1:14]  ⁸ sn The number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number of completeness. Cf. v. 20; Zech 8:23; Rev 2:10.

[1:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “fat of flesh”; KJV, ASV “fatter in flesh”; NASB, NRSV “fatter” (although this is no longer a sign of health in Western culture).

[1:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the wine of their drinking.”

[1:16]  ¹¹ tn The words “from their diet” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[1:18]  ¹² tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”

[1:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “from all of them.”

[1:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stood before the king.”

[1:20]  ¹⁵ tc The MT lacks the conjunction, reading the first word in the phrase as a construct (“wisdom of insight”). While this reading is not impossible, it seems better to follow Theodotion, the Syriac, the Vulgate, and the Sahidic Coptic, all of which have the conjunction.

[1:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hands.”

[1:21]  ¹⁷ sn The Persian king Cyrus’ first year in control of Babylon was 539 B.C. Daniel actually lived beyond the first year of Cyrus, as is clear from 10:1. The purpose of the statement in 1:21 is merely to say that Daniel’s life spanned the entire period of the neo-Babylonian empire. His life span also included the early years of the Persian control of Babylon. However, by that time his age was quite advanced; he probably died sometime in the 530’s B.C.