ዳንኤል በባቢሎን እንዲሠለጥን ተደረገ
1የይሁዳ ንጉሥ ኢዮአቄም በነገሠ በሦስተኛው ዓመት የባቢሎን ንጉሥ ናቡከደነፆር ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም መጥቶ ከበባት። 2ጌታም የይሁዳን ንጉሥ ኢዮአቄምን በእግዚአብሔር ቤተ መቅደስ ካሉት ዕቃዎች ከጥቂቶቹ ጋር በእጁ አሳልፎ ሰጠው፤ ወደ አምላኩ ቤት ወደ ባቢሎን1፥2 ዕብራይስጡ ሺናር ይላል ወሰዳቸው፤ በአምላኩም ግምጃ ቤት ውስጥ አኖራቸው።
3ከዚያ በኋላ ንጉሡ የቤተ መንግሥቱን ጃንደረቦች አለቃ አስፋኔዝን፣ ከንጉሣዊው ቤተ ሰብና ከመሳፍንቱ ዘር የሆኑትን እስራኤላውያንን እንዲያመጣ አዘዘው፤ 4እነርሱም የአካል ጕዳት የሌለባቸው መልከ መልካሞች፣ ማንኛውንም ትምህርት የመማር ችሎታ ያላቸው፣ ዕውቀት የሞላባቸው፣ ሁሉን ነገር በፍጥነት መረዳት የሚችሉትንና በንጉሡም ቤት ለማገልገል ብቃት ያላቸው ወጣት ወንዶች ናቸው፤ የባቢሎናውያንን1፥4 ወይም ከለዳውያን ቋንቋና ሥነ ጽሑፍ እንዲያስተምራቸውም አዘዘው። 5ንጉሡም በየዕለቱ የሚበሉትን ምግብና የሚጠጡትን የወይን ጠጅ ከንጉሡ ማእድ ድርጎ እንዲሰጣቸው አደረገ፤ ለሦስት ዓመት ከሠለጠኑ በኋላ በንጉሡ አገልግሎት ላይ የሚሰማሩ ናቸው።
6ከእነዚህም መካከል ከይሁዳ የመጡት ዳንኤል፣ አናንያ፣ ሚሳኤልና አዛርያ ነበሩ። 7የጃንደረቦቹ አለቃም አዲስ ስም አወጣላቸው፤ ዳንኤልን ብልጣሶር፣ አናንያን ሲድራቅ፣ ሚሳኤልን ሚሳቅ፣ አዛርያን አብድናጎ ብሎ ጠራቸው።
8ዳንኤል ግን በንጉሡ ምግብና የወይን ጠጅ እንዳይረክስ ወሰነ፤ በዚህ መንገድ ራሱን እንዳያረክስም የጃንደረቦቹን አለቃ ፈቃድ ጠየቀው። 9እግዚአብሔርም ለዳንኤል በጃንደረቦቹ አለቃ ፊት ሞገስንና መወደድን ሰጠው። 10ሆኖም የጃንደረቦቹ አለቃ ለዳንኤል፣ “መብሉንና መጠጡን የመደበላችሁን ጌታዬን ንጉሡን እፈራለሁ፤ በዕድሜ እንደ እናንተ ካሉ ወጣቶች ይልቅ ከስታችሁ ብትታዩ፣ በንጉሡ ዘንድ በራሴ ላይ አደጋ ታስከትሉብኛላችሁ።” ብሎ ነገረው።
11ዳንኤልም የጃንደረቦቹን አለቃ በዳንኤል፣ በአናንያ፣ በሚሳኤልና በአዛርያስ ላይ የሾመውን መጋቢ እንዲህ አለው፤ 12“እባክህ አገልጋዮችህን ለዐሥር ቀን ያህል ፈትነን፤ ለመብል ከአትክልት፣ ለመጠጥም ከውሃ በስተቀር ምንም አይሰጠን፤ 13ከዚያም የእኛን መልክና የንጉሡን መብል የሚበሉትን ወጣቶች መልክ አስተያይ፤ በአገልጋዮችህ ላይ የወደድኸውን አድርግብን።” 14እርሱም በዚህ ነገር ተስማማ፤ ለዐሥር ቀንም ፈተናቸው።
15ከዐሥር ቀን በኋላም የንጉሡን መብል ከበሉት ከሌሎች ወጣቶች ይልቅ ጤናማዎችና ሰውነታቸው የወፈረ ሆነው ተገኙ። 16ስለዚህ መጋቢው ምርጥ የሆነውን ምግባቸውንና ሊጠጡት የሚገባውን የወይን ጠጅ አስቀርቶ በምትኩ አትክልት ሰጣቸው።
17እግዚአብሔር ለእነዚህ አራት ወጣቶች በማንኛውም ሥነ ጽሑፍና ትምህርት ዕውቀትንና ማስተዋልን ሰጣቸው፤ ዳንኤልም ማንኛውንም ራእይና ሕልም የመረዳት ችሎታ ነበረው።
18ወደ እርሱ እንዲመጡ ንጉሡ የወሰነው ጊዜ ሲደርስ፣ የጃንደረቦቹ አለቃ ወደ ናቡከደነፆር አቀረባቸው። 19ንጉሡም ባነጋገራቸው ጊዜ ከመካከላቸው እንደ ዳንኤል፣ አናንያ፣ ሚሳኤልና አዛርያ ያለ ከቶ አልተገኘም፤ ስለዚህ በንጉሡ አገልግሎት ላይ ተሰማሩ። 20ንጉሡ በጠየቃቸው በማንኛውም የጥበብና የማስተዋል ጕዳይ በመላ ግዛቱ ካሉት አስማተኞችና ድግምተኞች ሁሉ ዐሥር እጅ በልጠው አገኛቸው።
21ዳንኤልም፣ ንጉሥ ቂሮስ እስከ ነገሠበት እስከ መጀመሪያው ዓመት ድረስ እዚያው ቈየ።
Daniel Is Trained in Babylon
1It was the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. His armies surrounded the city and attacked it. 2The Lord handed Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, over to him. Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the objects from God’s temple. He carried them off to the temple of his god in Babylon. He put them among the treasures of his god.
3The king gave Ashpenaz an order. Ashpenaz was the chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s court officials. The king told him to bring him some of the Israelites. The king wanted them to serve him in his court. He wanted nobles and men from the royal family. 4He was looking for young men who were healthy and handsome. They had to be able to learn anything. They had to be well educated. They had to have the ability to understand new things quickly and easily. The king wanted men who could serve in his palace. Ashpenaz was supposed to teach them the Babylonian language and writings. 5The king had his servants give them food and wine from his own table. They received a certain amount every day. The young men had to be trained for three years. After that, they could begin to serve the king.
6Some of the men chosen were from Judah. Their names were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7The chief official gave them new names. He gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar. He gave Hananiah the name Shadrach. He gave Mishael the name Meshach. And he gave Azariah the name Abednego.
8Daniel decided not to make himself “unclean” by eating the king’s food and drinking his wine. So he asked the chief official for a favor. He wanted permission not to make himself “unclean” with the king’s food and wine. 9God had caused the official to be kind and friendly to Daniel. 10But the official refused to do what Daniel asked for. He said, “I’m afraid of the king. He is my master. He has decided what you and your three friends must eat and drink. Other young men are the same age as you. Why should he see you looking worse than them? When he sees how you look, he might kill me.”
11So Daniel spoke to one of the guards. The chief official had appointed him over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 12Daniel said to him, “Please test us for ten days. Give us nothing but vegetables to eat. And give us only water to drink. 13Then compare us with the young men who eat the king’s food. See how we look. After that, do what you want to.” 14So the guard agreed. He tested them for ten days.
15After the ten days Daniel and his friends looked healthy and well fed. In fact, they looked better than any of the young men who ate the king’s food. 16So the guard didn’t require them to eat the king’s special food. He didn’t require them to drink the king’s wine either. He gave them vegetables instead.
17God gave knowledge and understanding to these four young men. So they understood all kinds of writings and subjects. And Daniel could understand all kinds of visions and dreams.
18The three years the king had set for their training ended. So the chief official brought them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19The king talked with them. He didn’t find anyone equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they began to serve the king. 20He asked them for advice in matters that required wisdom and understanding. The king always found their answers to be the best. Other men in his kingdom claimed to get knowledge by using magic. But the answers of Daniel and his friends were ten times better than theirs.
21Daniel served in Babylon until the first year Cyrus ruled over the land of Babylon. Cyrus was king of Persia.
