In the third year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hand, along with some of the vessels from God’s temple. Nebuchadnezzar carried the vessels to the land of Shinar and placed them in the temple of his god.
The king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief official, to bring in some Israelites from the royal family and the nobility. They were to be young men without physical defect, handsome, skilled in every kind of wisdom and knowledge, and able to serve in the king’s palace. Ashpenaz was to teach them the writing and language of the Chaldeans.
The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal food and wine. Their training would last three years, and afterward they would enter the king’s service. Among the men from Judah chosen for this training were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
The chief official gave them new names. Daniel was called Belteshazzar, Hananiah was called Shadrach, Mishael was called Meshach, and Azariah was called Abednego. The names used for them in the Babylonian palace differed from those they had carried from Jerusalem, but the four young men stood together under the same training and before the same royal table.
Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food and wine. He asked the chief official to allow him not to defile himself in this way. God caused the official to show Daniel favor and compassion, yet the official feared the king’s command.
The official said that if Daniel and his friends looked worse than the other young men of their age, the king would hold him responsible. Daniel then spoke to the guard appointed over himself, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He asked for a ten-day test: let them be given vegetables to eat and water to drink, then compare their appearance with the young men who ate the king’s food.
The guard accepted the proposal and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his friends looked healthier and better nourished than all the young men who ate the royal food. The guard then removed their portion of food and wine and continued to give the four of them vegetables.
The three years of training remained a time for learning the knowledge and writing required in the palace. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did not leave that education behind. Their choice of vegetables and water had been tested in ten days, while their preparation continued until the day they would stand before the king.
When the appointed time was over, the chief official brought the young men before Nebuchadnezzar. The king spoke with them himself. No one among all the young men was found to be like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The four entered the king’s service.
In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found the four ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom. God gave these four young men knowledge and skill in every kind of writing and wisdom. He also gave Daniel understanding in every vision and dream.