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Daniel 1:13

in Daniel 1

Then compare our appearances with those of the young men who are eating the royal food, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s dainties; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.

KJV

Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.

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This verse in Daniel 1

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Then let our countenances be looked upon - One of the “objects” to be secured by this whole trial was to promote their personal beauty, and their healthful appearance Dan 1:4-5, and Daniel was willing that the trial should be made with reference to that, and that a judgment should be formed from the observed effect of their temperate mode of life. The Hebrew word rendered countenance (מראה mar'eh) is not limited to the “face,” as the word countenance is with us.

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 Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

People will not believe the benefit of abstemiousness and a spare diet, nor how much it contributes to the health of the body, unless they try it. Trial was accordingly made.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְיֵרָא֤וּand they may appear

    veyerauH7200 →1300 times

  • לְפָנֶ֙יךָ֙<to> before you

    lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times

  • מַרְאֵ֔ינוּappearance our

    mareinuH4758 →103 times

  • וּמַרְאֵה֙and [the] appearance of

    umarehH4758 →103 times

  • הַיְלָדִ֔יםthe youths

    hayladimH3206 →89 times

  • הָאֹ֣כְלִ֔יםwho are eating

    haokhelimH398 →810 times

  • אֵ֖ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • פַּתְבַּ֣ג[the] delicaci[es] of

    patbagH6598 →8 times

  • הַמֶּ֑לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • וְכַאֲשֶׁ֣רand just as

    vekhaasherH834 →5497 times

  • תִּרְאֵ֔הyou will see

    tirehH7200 →1300 times

  • עֲשֵׂ֖הdeal

    ʾasehH6213 →2628 times

  • עִם־with

    ʾim-H5973 →1050 times

  • עֲבָדֶֽיךָ׃servants your

    ʾavadeikhaH5650 →799 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Daniel

Daniel among the Exiles — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Daniel among the Exiles — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Daniel: the study guide →Read Daniel 1 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Daniel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Daniel 1 →