1 In the third year ofa2 Kgs. 24:1, 2; 2 Chr. 36:6 the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some ofbch. 5:2; 2 Kgs. 24:13; 2 Chr. 36:7, 10; [Jer. 27:18] the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them tocGen. 11:2; Zech. 5:11 the land of Shinar, to the house of his god,d2 Chr. 36:7; Ezra 5:14 and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz,e[2 Kgs. 20:18; Isa. 39:7] his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and offEsth. 1:3 the nobility, 4 youths withoutg[Lev. 24:19, 20; 2 Sam. 14:25] blemish, of good appearance andh[ver. 17; ch. 9:22] skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and toi[Isa. 47:10] teach them the literature and language of thejch. 2:2, 4, 5, 10; 3:8; 4:7; 5:7, 11 Chaldeans. 5 The king assigned them a daily portion ofkch. 11:26 the food that the king ate, and oflver. 8, 16 the wine that he drank. They were to be educated form[ver. 18] three years, and at the end of that time they were ton[ch. 2:2; 1 Kgs. 10:8]; See Gen. 41:46 stand before the king. 6 Among these wereoEzek. 14:14, 20; Matt. 24:15 Daniel,pch. 2:17 Hananiah,pch. 2:17 Mishael, andpch. 2:17 Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 Ande[See ver. 3 above] the chief of the eunuchsq[2 Kgs. 23:34; 24:17] gave them names:rch. 2:26; 4:8, 9, 18, 19; 5:12; 10:1 Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
8 But Daniels2 Cor. 9:7 resolved that he would nott[Lev. 3:17; Ezek. 4:13; Hos. 9:3] defile himself withk[See ver. 5 above] the king's food, or withl[See ver. 5 above] the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not tot[Lev. 3:17; Ezek. 4:13; Hos. 9:3] defile himself. 9 u[Gen. 39:21; Ps. 106:46; Prov. 16:7] And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, 10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king. ” 11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Test your servants forv[Rev. 2:10] ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eatk[See ver. 5 above] the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see. ” 14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who atek[See ver. 5 above] the king's food. 16 wver. 11 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave themxver. 12 vegetables.
17 As for these four youths,y[ch. 2:20, 23; Job 32:8; James 1:5] God gave them learning andzver. 4 skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel hadach. 5:12; [ch. 9:23; 10:1, 11, 12] understanding in all visions and dreams. 18 At the end ofb[ver. 5] the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Thereforecch. 2:2 they stood before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than alld[ch. 2:27; Gen. 41:8, 24; Ex. 7:11, 22; 8:7, 18, 19; 9:11] the magicians andech. 2:2, 10, 27; 4:7; 5:7, 11, 15 enchanters that were in all his kingdom. 21 And Danielf[ch. 6:28; 10:1] was there until the first year ofgSee ch. 6:28 King Cyrus.