Daniel 1:12-21 ▼

12 “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given only vegetables to eat and water to drink.

13 Then compare our appearances with those of the young men who are eating the royal food, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

14 So he consented to this and tested them for ten days.

15 And at the end of ten days, they looked healthier and better nourished than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.

16 So the steward continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and he gave them vegetables instead.

17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. And Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.

18 Now at the end of the time specified by the king, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.

19 And the king spoke with them, and among all the young men he found no one equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the king’s service.

20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.

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