Daniel 1:3-21

1:3 The king commanded ¹  Ashpenaz, ²  who was in charge of his court officials, ³  to choose ⁴  some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent ⁵  – 1:4 young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome, ⁶  well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated ⁷  and having keen insight, ⁸  and who were capable ⁹  of entering the king’s royal service ¹⁰  – and to teach them the literature and language ¹¹  of the Babylonians. ¹²  1:5 So the king assigned them a daily ration ¹³  from his royal delicacies ¹⁴  and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained ¹⁵  for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king’s service. ¹⁶  1:6 As it turned out, ¹⁷  among these young men ¹⁸  were some from Judah: ¹⁹  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ²⁰  1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ²¹  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ²² 

1:8 But Daniel made up his mind ²³  that he would not defile ²⁴  himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. ²⁵  He therefore asked the overseer of the court officials for permission not to defile himself. 1:9 Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel. ²⁶  1:10 But he ²⁷  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ²⁸  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ²⁹  If that happened, ³⁰  you would endanger my life ³¹  with the king!” 1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden ³²  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 ³³  with that of ³⁴  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ³⁵  deal with us ³⁶  in light of what you see.” 1:14 So the warden ³⁷  agreed to their proposal ³⁸  and tested them for ten ³⁹  days.

1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ⁴⁰  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies. 1:16 So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine ⁴¹  from their diet ⁴²  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, ⁴³  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 ⁴⁴  anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service. ⁴⁵  1:20 In every matter of wisdom and ⁴⁶  insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times ⁴⁷  better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire. 1:21 Now Daniel lived on until the first ⁴⁸  year of Cyrus the king.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”

[1:3]  ² 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.

[1:3]  ³ 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.

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “bring.”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “good of appearance.”

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “knowers of knowledge.”

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “understanders of knowledge.”

[1:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “who had strength.”

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to stand in the palace of the king.” Cf. vv. 5, 19.

[1:4]  ¹¹ sn The language of the Chaldeans referred to here is Akkadian, an East Semitic cuneiform language.

[1:4]  ¹² tn Heb “Chaldeans” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV). This is an ancient name for the Babylonians.

[1:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”

[1:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the delicacies of the king.”

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “educated.” See HALOT 179 s.v. I גדל.

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “stand before the king.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and it happened that.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “among them”; the referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

[1:6]  ²⁰ 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.”

[1:7]  ²¹ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

[1:7]  ²² 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.

[1:8]  ²³ tn Heb “placed on his heart.”

[1:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “would not make himself ceremonially unclean”; TEV “become ritually unclean.”

[1:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “with the delicacies of the king and with the wine of his drinking.”

[1:9]  ²⁶ 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.

[1:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.

[1:10]  ²⁹ 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.

[1:10]  ³⁰ tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[1:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.

[1:11]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”

[1:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the appearance of.”

[1:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.

[1:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “your servants.”

[1:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the warden mentioned in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “listened to them with regard to this matter.”

[1:14]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the wine of their drinking.”

[1:16]  ⁴² tn The words “from their diet” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[1:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”

[1:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “from all of them.”

[1:19]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “stood before the king.”

[1:20]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “hands.”

[1:21]  ⁴⁸ 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.