Daniel 1:6-21

1:6 As it turned out, ¹  among these young men ²  were some from Judah: ³  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁴  1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ⁵  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ⁶ 

1:8 But Daniel made up his mind ⁷  that he would not defile ⁸  himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. ⁹  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. ¹⁰  1:10 But he ¹¹  responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided ¹²  your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? ¹³  If that happened, ¹⁴  you would endanger my life ¹⁵  with the king!” 1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  with that of ¹⁸  the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; ¹⁹  deal with us ²⁰  in light of what you see.” 1:14 So the warden ²¹  agreed to their proposal ²²  and tested them for ten ²³  days.

1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier ²⁴  than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies. 1:16 So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine ²⁵  from their diet ²⁶  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, ²⁷  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 ²⁸  anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service. ²⁹  1:20 In every matter of wisdom and ³⁰  insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times ³¹  better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire. 1:21 Now Daniel lived on until the first ³²  year of Cyrus the king.

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

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “among them”; the referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

[1:6]  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.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

[1:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “placed on his heart.”

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

[1:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “with the delicacies of the king and with the wine of his drinking.”

[1:9]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[1:10]  ¹² tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.

[1:10]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[1:10]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”

[1:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the appearance of.”

[1:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.

[1:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your servants.”

[1:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the warden mentioned in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ²² tn Heb “listened to them with regard to this matter.”

[1:14]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the wine of their drinking.”

[1:16]  ²⁶ tn The words “from their diet” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[1:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “at the end of the days which the king said to bring them.”

[1:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from all of them.”

[1:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “stood before the king.”

[1:20]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn Heb “hands.”

[1:21]  ³² 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.