Daniel 1:3

1:3 The king commanded ¹  Ashpenaz, ²  who was in charge of his court officials, ³  to choose ⁴  some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent ⁵  –

Daniel 1:6-7

1:6 As it turned out, ⁶  among these young men ⁷  were some from Judah: ⁸  Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁹  1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave ¹⁰  Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego. ¹¹ 

Daniel 1:11

1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden ¹²  whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

Daniel 1:19

1:19 When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group ¹³  anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service. ¹⁴ 

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¹ tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”

² sn It is possible that the word Ashpenaz is not a proper name at all, but a general term for “innkeeper.” See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia), 127, n. 9. However, the ancient versions understand the term to be a name, and the present translation (along with most English versions) understands the word in this way.

³ sn The word court official (Hebrew saris) need not mean “eunuch” in a technical sense (see Gen 37:36, where the term refers to Potiphar, who had a wife), although in the case of the book of Daniel there was in Jewish literature a common tradition to that effect. On the OT usage of this word see HALOT 769-70 s.v. סָרֹיס.

⁴ tn Heb “bring.”

⁵ tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”

⁶ tn Heb “and it happened that.”

⁷ tn Heb “among them”; the referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”

⁹ sn The names reflect a Jewish heritage. In Hebrew Daniel means “God is my judge”; Hananiah means “the Lord is gracious”; Mishael means “who is what God is?”; Azariah means “the Lord has helped.”

¹⁰ tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.

¹¹ sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.

¹² sn Having failed to convince the overseer, Daniel sought the favor of the warden whom the overseer had appointed to care for the young men.

¹³ tn Heb “from all of them.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “stood before the king.”