Daniel 1:8-20

8But Daniel decided that God did not want him to eat the king's food and wine. He knew that it might be against God's rules. So he asked the king's special officer that he might not have to eat the king's food.

9God had already caused the officer to like Daniel and to be kind to him.

10But the officer said to Daniel, ‘I am afraid of the king, who is my master. He has chosen the food that he wants you to eat. If you eat different food, you might become weaker than the other young men. If the king sees that, he might kill me!’

11The officer had chosen a guard to watch Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So Daniel spoke to this man.

12He said, ‘Please sir, watch us for ten days. Give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink.

13After ten days, see what our faces and our bodies look like. Also see what the other young men who eat the king's food look like. When you look at them and you look at us, you can decide what to do with us.’

14The guard agreed to what they said. He watched them for ten days.

15After ten days, their faces seemed more handsome than the young men who ate the king's food. Their bodies also seemed to be fatter.

16So the guard no longer gave them the king's food and wine to eat. He gave vegetables and water to them instead.

17God helped these four young men to become clever and wise. While they studied, he helped them to learn from many different books. They could understand many things. Daniel could also understand the meaning of all kinds of dreams.

18King Nebuchadnezzar had said that the young men must study for three years. After that time finished, the king's officer took them to the king.

19The king spoke with all the young men. He discovered that there was nobody else like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they became the king's servants.

20Whenever the king needed help to understand something important, these men showed how wise they were. They knew ten times more than any of the king's other wise men. Those men used magic or they studied the stars to know what would happen in the future. They came from all the different countries that Nebuchadnezzar ruled.