Daniel Taken to Babylon

1 In the third year of ^(A)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 of ^(B)the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to ^(C)the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, ^(D)and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. ³ Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, ^(E)his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family^[a] and of ^(F)the nobility, ⁴ youths without ^(G)blemish, of good appearance and ^(H)skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to ^(I)teach them the literature and language of the ^(J)Chaldeans. ⁵ The king assigned them a daily portion of ^(K)the food that the king ate, and of ^(L)the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for ^(M)three years, and at the end of that time they were to ^(N)stand before the king. ⁶ Among these were ^(O)Daniel, ^(P)Hananiah, ^(Q)Mishael, and ^(R)Azariah of the tribe of Judah. ⁷ And ^(S)the chief of the eunuchs ^(T)gave them names: ^(U)Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

Daniel's Faithfulness

⁸ But Daniel ^(V)resolved that he would not ^(W)defile himself with ^(X)the king's food, or with ^(Y)the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to ^(Z)defile himself. ^9 (AA)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 for ^(AB)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 eat ^(AC)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 ate ^(AD)the king's food. ^16 (AE)So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them ^(AF)vegetables.

¹⁷ As for these four youths, ^(AG)God gave them learning and ^(AH)skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had ^(AI)understanding in all visions and dreams. ¹⁸ At the end of ^(AJ)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. Therefore ^(AK)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 all ^(AL)the magicians and ^(AM)enchanters that were in all his kingdom. ²¹ And Daniel ^(AN)was there until the first year of ^(AO)King Cyrus.