The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 In the third year of the reign of Y'hoyakim king of Y'hudah, N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel came to Yerushalayim and laid siege to it;
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In the third year of the rule of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, shutting it in with his forces.
2 and Adonai handed Y'hoyakim king of Y'hudah over to him, along with some of the articles from the house of God. He took them to the land of Shin'ar, to the house of his god and placed the articles in the storehouse of his god.
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And the Lord gave into his hands Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he took them away into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he put the vessels into the store-house of his god.
3 The king ordered Ashp'naz, the eunuch serving as his chief officer, to bring into the palace from the people of Isra'el some of royal or noble descent.
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And the king gave orders to Ashpenaz, the captain of his unsexed servants, to take in some of the children of Israel, certain of the king's family, and those of high birth;
4 They were to be boys without physical defect, handsome in appearance, versed in all kinds of wisdom, quick to learn, discerning, and having the capacity to serve in the king's palace; and he was to teach them the language and literature of the Kasdim.
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Young men who were strong and healthy, good-looking, and trained in all wisdom, having a good education and much knowledge, and able to take positions in the king's house; and to have them trained in the writing and language of the Chaldaeans.
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of his own food and the wine he drank, and they were to be cared for in this way for three years. At the end of this time they were to become the king's attendants.
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And a regular amount of food and wine every day from the king's table was ordered for them by the king; and they were to be cared for for three years so that at the end of that time they might take their places before the king.
6 Among these, from the people of Y'hudah, were Dani'el, Hananyah, Misha'el and 'Azaryah.
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And among these there were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
7 The chief officer gave them other names - to Dani'el he gave the name Belt'shatzar; to Hananyah, Shadrakh; to Misha'el, Meishakh; and to 'Azaryah, 'Aved-N'go.
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And the captain of the unsexed servants gave them names; to Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar, to Hananiah the name of Shadrach, to Mishael the name of Meshach, and to Azariah the name of Abed-nego.
8 But Dani'el resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or the wine he drank, so he asked the chief officer to be excused from defiling himself.
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And Daniel had come to the decision that he would not make himself unclean with the king's food or wine; so he made a request to the captain of the unsexed servants that he might not make himself unclean.
9 God caused the chief officer to be kind and sympathetic toward Dani'el;
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And God put into the heart of the captain of the unsexed servants kind feelings and pity for Daniel.
10 however, the chief officer said to Dani'el, "I'm afraid of my lord the king. After all, he has given you an allowance of food and drink; so if he were to see you boys looking worse than the others your age, you would be putting my own head in danger from the king."
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And the captain of the unsexed servants said to Daniel, I am in fear of my lord the king, who has given orders about your food and your drink; what if he sees you looking less happy than the other young men of your generation? then you would have put my head in danger from the king.
11 Then Dani'el said to the guard whom the chief officer had put in charge of Dani'el, Hananyah, Misha'el and 'Azaryah,
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Then Daniel said to the keeper in whose care the captain of the unsexed servants had put Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
12 "Please! Try an experiment on your servants - for ten days have them give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink.
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Put your servants to the test for ten days; let them give us grain for our food and water for our drink.
13 Then see how we look, and compare us with how the boys who eat the king's food look; and deal with your servants according to what you see."
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Then take a look at our faces and the faces of the young men who have food from the king's table; and, having seen them, do to your servants as it seems right to you.
14 He agreed to do what they had asked and gave them a ten-day test.
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So he gave ear to them in this thing and put them to the test for ten days.
15 At the end of ten days they looked better and more robust than all the boys who were eating the king's food.
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And at the end of ten days their faces seemed fairer and they were fatter in flesh than all the young men who had their food from the king's table.
16 So the guard took away their food and the wine they were supposed to drink, and gave them vegetables.
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So the keeper regularly took away their meat and the wine which was to have been their drink, and gave them grain.
17 To these four boys God had given knowledge and skill in every aspect of learning and wisdom; moreover, Dani'el could understand all kinds of visions and dreams.
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Now as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and made them expert in all book-learning and wisdom: and Daniel was wise in all visions and dreams.
18 When the time the king had set for them to be presented came, the chief officer presented them to N'vukhadnetzar;
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Now at the end of the time fixed by the king for them to go in, the captain of the unsexed servants took them in to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 and when the king spoke with them, none was found among all of them to compare with Dani'el, Hananyah, Misha'el and 'Azaryah. So they entered the king's service;
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And the king had talk with them; and among them all there was no one like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; so they were given places before the king.
20 and in all matters requiring wisdom and understanding, whenever the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and exorcists in his entire kingdom.
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And in any business needing wisdom and good sense, about which the king put questions to them, he saw that they were ten times better than all the wonder-workers and users of secret arts in all his kingdom.
21 So Dani'el remained there until the first year of King Koresh.
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And Daniel went on till the first year of King Cyrus.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.