Daniel 1:12

Daniel 1:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
• English Standard Version (ESV)"Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
• New Living Translation (NLT)“Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water,” Daniel said.

Context of Daniel 1:12

10but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” 11Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

Daniel 1:12 word by word

נַס־נָ֥א אֶת־עֲבָדֶ֖יךָ יָמִ֣ים עֲשָׂרָ֑ה וְיִתְּנוּ־לָ֜נוּ מִן־הַזֵּרֹעִ֛ים וְנֹאכְלָ֖ה וּמַ֥יִם וְנִשְׁתֶּֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Proveנָסָהnâsâh · to testH5254
• thy servantsעֶ֫בֶד‛ebed · servant/slaveH5650
• I beseech thee, tenעֶשֶׂר‛eώer ‛ăώârâh · tenH6235
• daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• and let them giveנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
• us pulseזֵרֹעַzêrôa‛ zêrâ‛ôn · vegetableH2235
• to eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• and waterמַיmayim · waterH4325
• to drinkשָׁתָהshâthâh · to drinkH8354

Cross-references for Daniel 1:12

• Daniel 1:16So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
• Genesis 1:29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
• Deuteronomy 8:3He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
• Romans 14:2One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

Commentaries on Daniel 1:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Give us pulse to eat - הזרעים hazzeraim, seeds or grain, such as barley, wheat, rye, and peas, etc. Though a vegetable diet might have produced that healthiness of the system in general, and of the countenance particularly, as mentioned here; yet we are to understand that there was an especial blessing of God in this, because this spare diet was taken on a religious account.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days - A period which would indicate the probable result of the entire experiment. If during that period there were no indications of diminished health, beauty, or vigour, it would not be unfair to presume that the experiment in behalf of temperance would be successful, and it would not be improper then to ask that it might be continued longer. And let them give us pulse to eat - Margin, “of pulse that we may eat.”…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-16Verses 8-16 The interest we think we make for ourselves, we must acknowledge to be God's gift. Daniel was still firm to his religion. Whatever they called him, he still held fast the spirit of an Israelite. These youths scrupled concerning the meat, lest it should be sinful. When God's people are in Babylon they need take special care that they partake not of her sins. It is much to the praise of young people, not to covet or seek the delights of sense…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12only vegetables … and water: Eating only vegetables and water would avoid forbidden foods (Daniel 1:8). This diet, as a kind of fast, would demonstrate mourning over their exile in a foreign land.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. pulse--The Hebrew expresses any vegetable grown from seeds, that is, vegetable food in general [Gesenius].Read the comment

Topics related to Daniel 1:12

• Abed-Nego
• Abstemiousness
• Abstinence, Total
• Appetite
• Daniel
• Government
• Integrity
• Melzar
• Mishael
• Prudence
• Pulse
• School
• Temperance

In the dictionaries

• Hananiah
• Liking
• Pulse
• Drunkenness
• Food
• Genealogy
• Judah, Kingdom of
• Shadrach
• Daniel
• Daniel, the Book of

Commentaries on Daniel 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings