Daniel 1:3-7

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 

[1:3]  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.