Daniel 1:10

1:10 But he¹ responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided² your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age?³ If that happened,⁴ you would endanger my life⁵ with the king!”

Daniel 5:2

5:2 While under the influence⁶ of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father⁷ had confiscated⁸ from the temple in Jerusalem⁹ – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them.¹⁰

¹tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

²tn Heb “assigned.” See v. 5.

³tn Heb “Why should he see your faces thin from the young men who are according to your age?” The term translated “thin” occurs only here and in Gen 40:6, where it appears to refer to a dejected facial expression. The word is related to an Arabic root meaning “be weak.” See HALOT 277 s.v. II זעף.

⁴tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

⁵tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.

⁶tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

⁷tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

⁸tn Or “taken.”

⁹map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁰sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.