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Monday, September 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Bible in Basic English

Daniel 1:12

Put your servants to the test for ten days; let them give us grain for our food and water for our drink.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Abed-Nego;   Abstemiousness;   Abstinence, Total;   Appetite;   Daniel;   Government;   Integrity;   Melzar;   Mishael;   Prudence;   Pulse;   School;   Temperance;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Home;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Social Duties;   Stories for Children;   Temperance;   Temperance-Intemperance;   Water;   The Topic Concordance - Knowledge;   Wisdom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Self-Denial;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Abednego;   Ashpenaz;   Melzar;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Pulse;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Azariah;   Daniel;   Delilah;   Food;   Meshach;   Mishael;   Nazarite;   Pulse;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Daniel, Book of;   Plants in the Bible;   Pulse;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Food;   Pulse;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Day and Night;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Azariah ;   Eunuch;   Hananiah ;   Melzar ;   Mishael ;   Pulse;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Abednego;   Daniel;   Pulse;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Dan'iel;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Ten;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Pulse;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Drunkenness;   Food;   Judah, Kingdom of;   Pulse;   Shadrach;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Vegetarianism;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for June 5;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Hebrew Names Version
Prove your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
King James Version
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
English Standard Version
"Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
New American Standard Bible
"Please put your servants to the test for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
New Century Version
Daniel said to the guard, "Please give us this test for ten days: Don't give us anything but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Amplified Bible
"Please, test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Proue thy seruants, I beseeche thee, ten dayes, and let them giue vs pulse to eate, and water to drinke.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Berean Standard Bible
"Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given only vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Contemporary English Version
"For the next ten days, let us have only vegetables and water at mealtime.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Please! Try an experiment on your servants — for ten days have them give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Darby Translation
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink;
Easy-to-Read Version
He said, "Please give us this test for ten days: Don't give us anything but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
George Lamsa Translation
Test your servants for ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Good News Translation
"Test us for ten days," he said. "Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Lexham English Bible
"Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us some of the vegetables, and let us eat and let us drink water.
Literal Translation
Please, test your servants ten days. And let vegetables be given to us that we may eat, and water that we may drink.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O proue but ten dayes with thy seruauntes, and let vs haue potage to eate, and water to drynke:
American Standard Version
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Try thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
King James Version (1611)
Proue thy seruants, I beseech thee, ten dayes, and let them giue pulse to eat, and water to drinke.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
O proue but ten dayes with thy seruauntes, and let vs haue pulse to eate, and water to drinke.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Prove now thy servants ten days; and let them give us pulse, and let us eat, and let us drink water:
English Revised Version
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
World English Bible
Prove your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y biseche, asaie thou vs thi seruauntis bi ten daies, and potagis be youun to vs to ete, and water to drynke; and biholde thou oure cheris,
Update Bible Version
Prove your slaves, I urge you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
Webster's Bible Translation
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
New English Translation
"Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
New King James Version
"Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
New Living Translation
"Please test us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water," Daniel said.
New Life Bible
"Test your servants for ten days. Give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink.
New Revised Standard
"Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I pray thee - prove thy servants, ten days, - and let them give us vegetable food, that we may eat, and water that we may drink:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Try, I beseech thee, thy servants for ten days, and let pulse be given us to eat, and water to drink:
Revised Standard Version
"Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Young's Literal Translation
`Try, I pray thee, thy servants, ten days; and they give to us of the vegetables, and we eat, and water, and we drink;

Contextual Overview

8 And Daniel had come to the decision that he would not make himself unclean with the king's food or wine; so he made a request to the captain of the unsexed servants that he might not make himself unclean. 9 And God put into the heart of the captain of the unsexed servants kind feelings and pity for Daniel. 10 And the captain of the unsexed servants said to Daniel, I am in fear of my lord the king, who has given orders about your food and your drink; what if he sees you looking less happy than the other young men of your generation? then you would have put my head in danger from the king. 11 Then Daniel said to the keeper in whose care the captain of the unsexed servants had put Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: 12 Put your servants to the test for ten days; let them give us grain for our food and water for our drink. 13 Then take a look at our faces and the faces of the young men who have food from the king's table; and, having seen them, do to your servants as it seems right to you. 14 So he gave ear to them in this thing and put them to the test for ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their faces seemed fairer and they were fatter in flesh than all the young men who had their food from the king's table. 16 So the keeper regularly took away their meat and the wine which was to have been their drink, and gave them grain.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

pulse to eat: Heb. of pulse that we may eat, etc. Pulse, zeroim denotes all leguminous plants, which are not reaped but pulled or plucked; which, however wholesome, was not naturally calculated to render them fatter in flesh than the others. Daniel 1:16, Genesis 1:29, Genesis 1:30, Deuteronomy 8:3, Romans 14:2

Reciprocal: Daniel 12:11 - a thousand

Cross-References

Genesis 1:10
And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.
Genesis 1:24
And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.
Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.
Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth puts out buds, and as the garden gives growth to the seeds which are planted in it, so the Lord will make righteousness and praise to be flowering before all the nations.
Mark 4:28
The earth gives fruit by herself; first the leaf, then the head, then the full grain.
Luke 6:44
For every tree is judged by its fruit. Men do not get figs from thorns, or grapes from blackberry plants.
2 Corinthians 9:10
And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;
Galatians 6:7
Be not tricked; God is not made sport of: for whatever seed a man puts in, that will he get back as grain.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, e.] Here Daniel manifestly includes his companions, and makes his request for himself and them desiring that they might be tried ten days with different sort of food and drink, and see whether any alteration would be made in them for the worse; which was a proper time for such a trial; for in that time it might be reasonably supposed that their food, if it had any bad effect on them, would appear. Saadiah makes these ten days to be the days between the first day of the year and the day of atonement; but without any foundation:

and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink; instead of the king's meat, pulse, beans, pease, vetches, lentiles, rice, millet, and the like. The word d used signifies anything sown, all kinds of roots, herbs, and fruits; and, instead of wine, water; meat and drink, it may be thought, that persons of such birth and education had not been used to; and yet they preferred these to the king's dainties, by eating and drinking of which their consciences would be in danger of being defiled.

d מן הזרעים απο των σπερματων, Sept.; "de seminibus", Montanus; "de sativis", Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Prove 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.” Hebrew, “Let them give us of pulse, and we will eat.” The word “pulse” with us means leguminous plants with thin seeds; that is, plants with a pericarp, or seed-vessel, of two valves, having the seeds fixed to one suture only. In popular language the “legume” is called a “pod;” as a “pea-pod,” or “bean-pod,” and the word is commonly applied to peas or beans. The Hebrew word (זרעים zēro‛ı̂ym) would properly have reference to seeds of any kind - from זרע zâra‛, to disperse, to scatter seed, to sow. Then it would refer to plants that bear seed, of all kinds, and would be by no means limited to pulse - as pease or beans. It is rendered by Gesenius, “seed-herbs, greens, vegetables; i. e., vegetable food, such as was eaten in half-fast, opposed to meats and the more delicate kinds of food.” The word occurs only here and in Daniel 1:16. It is rendered in the Vulgate, “legumina;” and in the Greek, ἀπὸ τῶν σπερμάτων apo tōn spermatōn - “from seeds.” It is not a proper construction to limit this to “pulse,” or to suppose that Daniel desired to live solely on pease or beans; but the fair interpretation is to apply it to what grows up from “seeds” - such, probably, as would be sown in a garden, or, as we would now express it, “vegetable diet.” It was designed as an experiment - and was a very interesting one - to show the legitimate effect of such a diet in promoting beauty and health, and the result is worthy of special notice as contrasted with a more luxurious mode of life.

And water to drink - This, also, was a most interesting and important experiment, to show that wine was not necessary to produce healthfulness of appearance, or manly strength and beauty. It was an experiment to illustrate the effect of “cold water” as a beverage, made by an interesting group of young men, when surrounded by great temptations, and is, therefore, worthy of particular attention.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Daniel 1:12. Give us pulse to eat — הזרעים hazzeraim, seeds or grain, such as barley, wheat, rye, and peas, c. 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.


 
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