¹In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God. He brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God; and he brought the vessels into the treasury house of his God.

³And the king said to Ashpenaz, the greatest of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, some of the royal seed, and some of the nobles.

⁴young men in whom there was no blemish at all, good in appearance, acting wisely in all wisdom, knowing knowledge, discerning thought, and with strength in them to stand in the king's palace; and to teach them the writing and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

⁵And the king assigned them a day's word on its day, a portion of the king's delicacies and of the wine of his feast, and to make them great for three years; and at the end of them they would stand before the king.

⁶Among them, from the sons of Judah, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

⁷The chief of the officials gave them names: to Daniel he gave Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach, and to Azariah Abed-nego.

⁸And Daniel set it upon his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's delicacies or with the wine of his feast, and he asked the chief of the officials that he might not defile himself.

⁹And God gave Daniel loyal love and compassion before the chief of the officials.

¹⁰The chief of the officials said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who appointed your food and your drink; for why would he see your faces dejected more than the youths who are of your age? You would make my head guilty before the king.

¹¹And Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

¹²“Please test your servants for ten days: let them give us some of the vegetables to eat, and water to drink.”

¹³“Then let our look and the look of the youths who eat the king's delicacies be seen before your face, and as you see, deal with your servants.”

¹⁴He listened to them on this word and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵And from the corners of the ten days their look was seen good and fatted of flesh from all the children who eat the food of the king.

¹⁶And the steward kept taking away their delicacies and the wine of their feast, and giving them vegetables.

¹⁷As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and the power to act wisely in all writing and wisdom; and Daniel discerned vision and dreams of every kind.

¹⁸At the end of the days that the king had commanded for bringing them in, the chief of the officials brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

¹⁹And the king spoke with them, and not one was found among them all like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; and they stood before the face of the king.

²⁰In every word of wisdom and understanding that the king sought from them, he found them ten times above all the diviners and conjurers who were in all his kingdom.

²¹And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.