5. The king also gave orders that every day they were to be given the same food and wine as the members of the royal court. After three years of this training they were to appear before the king.
6. Among those chosen were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all of whom were from the tribe of Judah.
7. The chief official gave them new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
8. Daniel made up his mind not to let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him,
9. and God made Ashpenaz sympathetic to Daniel.
10. Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, “The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you don't look as fit as the other young men, he may kill me.”
11. So Daniel went to the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends.
12. “Test us for ten days,” he said. “Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13. Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look.”
14. He agreed to let them try it for ten days.