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Daniel 1

The Choice Young Men

1

In the third year of the reign of  aJehoiakim king of Judah,  bNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

2

The  aLord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the  bvessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of  cShinar, to the house of his  1god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his  1 dgod.

3

Then the king  1ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his  2officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the  3royal  afamily and of the nobles,

4

youths in whom was  ano defect, who were good-looking, showing  bintelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for  1serving in the king's  2court; and he ordered him to teach them the  3literature and  clanguage of the  dChaldeans.

5

The king appointed for them a daily ration from the  aking's choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be  1educated three years, at the end of which they were to  2 benter the king's personal service.

6

Now among them from the sons of Judah were  aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

7

Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name  aBelteshazzar, to Hananiah  bShadrach, to Mishael  bMeshach and to Azariah  bAbed-nego.

Daniel's Resolve

8

But Daniel  1made up his mind that he would not  adefile himself with the  bking's choice food or with the  cwine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.

9

Now God granted Daniel  1 afavor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials,

10

and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would  1make me forfeit my head to the king."

11

But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,

12

"Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be  agiven some vegetables to eat and water to drink.

13

"Then let our appearance be  1observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food; 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 their appearance seemed  abetter and  1they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food.

16

So the overseer continued to  1withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept  agiving them vegetables.

17

As for these four youths,  aGod gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of  1literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of  bvisions and dreams.

18

Then at the end of the days which the king had  1specified  2for presenting them, the commander of the officials  3presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.

19

The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like  aDaniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they  1 bentered the king's personal service.

20

As for every matter of  awisdom  1and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them  bten times  cbetter than all the  2 dmagicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.

21

And Daniel  1continued until the  afirst year of Cyrus the king.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:23:57 2007)

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