Daniel 1:12
in Daniel 1“Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given only vegetables to eat and water to drink.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
KJV
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
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This verse in Daniel 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verseGive us pulse to eat - הזרעים hazzeraim, seeds or grain, such as barley, wheat, rye, and peas, etc. 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.
This site's exposition
to Melzar
on Daniel 1:11-14
Daniel takes his proposal to Melzar, the steward set immediately over the four, and asks for a ten-day trial rather than an outright refusal, pulse to eat and water to drink in place of the king's provision. The request is modest and measurable, an appeal to be judged by the plainest evidence, our countenances as they appear before thee, rather than by argument. Melzar's consent, given for ten days only, is a small risk on his part matched by a much larger act of trust on theirs, and the bench notes the wisdom of asking for a test rather than a permanent exemption.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Verse 12. "I beg thee, try us thy servants for ten days, and let pulse be given us to eat and water to drink." His faith was so incredibly great that he not only promised he would be in good flesh by eating the humbler food, but he even set a time-limit. Therefore it was not a matter of temerity but of faith, for the sake of which he despised the sumptuous fare of the king.
The exception of certain kinds from use as food is a partial fast.… Daniel and his companions, preferring as they did a diet of vegetables and the beverage of water to the royal dishes and decanters, were found "more handsome" … and in addition were more spiritually cultured. For God gave to the young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature, and to Daniel in every word, and in dreams and in every kind of wisdom; which [wisdom] was to make him wise in this very thing also, namely, by what means the recognition of mysteries was to be obtained from God.
But they wished to prove to him that beauty and strength does not come by earthly food which was supplied to the humans, but that the grace of God which was given through the Word supplies beauty and strength, and so they said to him, "Then test your slaves for ten days and give us vegetables and we shall eat them and drink water and our appearances shall be seen and you shall see the appearances of the boys who eat from the table of the king and, just as you see, in this way do to us." [Daniel 1:12-13] Do you see the unalterable faith of the youths and the immutable fear of God? They asked for intervals of time, ten days, so that in this they may prove that they are not able to procure grace from God differently from other men, but only by believing the preaching of the word through Jesus.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A fish is caught by being enticed by a hook. A bird falls into a net while trying to get food. Animals that are tough by nature's endowment fall into a pit from the desire to eat, and what nature does not soften, food deceives. …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, 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.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
pulse--The Hebrew expresses any vegetable grown from seeds, that is, vegetable food in general [GESENIUS].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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 Dan 1:16. […]
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נַס־ | nas- | put to [the] test | H5254 → | |
| נָ֥א | na' | please | H4994 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲבָדֶ֖יךָ | ʾavadeikha | servants your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| יָמִ֣ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עֲשָׂרָ֑ה | ʾasarah | ten | H6235 → | 176 times |
| וְיִתְּנוּ־ | veyitenu- | so let people give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לָ֜נוּ | lanu | to us | ||
| מִן־ | min- | some of | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הַזֵּרֹעִ֛ים | hazeroim | the vegetables | H2235 → | |
| וְנֹאכְלָ֖ה | venokhelah | so we may eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| וּמַ֥יִם | umayim | and water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| וְנִשְׁתֶּֽה׃ | venishteh | so we may drink | H8354 → |
נַס־put to [the] test
nas-H5254 →
נָ֥אplease
na'H4994 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
עֲבָדֶ֖יךָservants your
ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times
יָמִ֣יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
עֲשָׂרָ֑הten
ʾasarahH6235 →176 times
וְיִתְּנוּ־so let people give
veyitenu-H5414 →2011 times
לָ֜נוּto us
lanu
מִן־some of
min-H4480 →1188 times
הַזֵּרֹעִ֛יםthe vegetables
hazeroimH2235 →
וְנֹאכְלָ֖הso we may eat
venokhelahH398 →810 times
וּמַ֥יִםand water
umayimH4325 →581 times
וְנִשְׁתֶּֽה׃so we may drink
venishtehH8354 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 8:3He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone,…
it leads to
- Matthew 4:4
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
- Luke 4:4
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
- Hebrews 13:5–6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Psalms 78:23–25
Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.
- 1 Corinthians 10:3
They all ate the same spiritual food
- Matthew 4:4
Through
Romans 14:2For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 4:4
For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
- Proverbs 15:17
Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
- Romans 14:14
I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
- 1 Timothy 4:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Daniel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Daniel; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 1.11.4-5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER ONE; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Leander of Seville, THE TRAINING OF NUNS 13; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Tertullian, ON FASTING 9.