¹ 犹大王约雅敬在位第三年，巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒来到耶路撒冷，将城围困。

² 主将犹大王约雅敬，并神殿中器皿的几分交付他手。他就把这器皿带到示拿地，收入他神的庙里，放在他神的库中。

³ 王吩咐太监长亚施毗拿，从以色列人的宗室和贵胄中带进几个人来，

⁴ 就是年少没有残疾、相貌俊美、通达各样学问、知识聪明俱备、足能侍立在王宫里的，要教他们迦勒底的文字言语。

⁵ 王派定将自己所用的膳和所饮的酒，每日赐他们一分，养他们三年。满了三年，好叫他们在王面前侍立。

⁶ 他们中间有犹大族的人：但以理、哈拿尼雅、米沙利、亚撒利雅。

⁷ 太监长给他们起名：称但以理为伯提沙撒，称哈拿尼雅为沙得拉，称米沙利为米煞，称亚撒利雅为亚伯尼歌。

⁸ 但以理却立志不以王的膳和王所饮的酒玷污自己，所以求太监长容他不玷污自己。

⁹ 神使但以理在太监长眼前蒙恩惠，受怜悯。

¹⁰ 太监长对但以理说：我惧怕我主我王，他已经派定你们的饮食；倘若他见你们的面貌比你们同岁的少年人肌瘦，怎麽好呢？这样，你们就使我的头在王那里难保。

¹¹ 但以理对太监长所派管理但以理、哈拿尼雅、米沙利、亚撒利雅的委办说：

¹² 求你试试仆人们十天，给我们素菜吃，白水喝，

¹³ 然後看看我们的面貌和用王膳那少年人的面貌，就照你所看的待仆人罢！

¹⁴ 委办便允准他们这件事，试看他们十天。

¹⁵ 过了十天，见他们的面貌比用王膳的一切少年人更加俊美肥胖。

¹⁶ 於是委办撤去派他们用的膳，饮的酒，给他们素菜吃。

¹⁷ 这四个少年人，神在各样文字学问（学问：原文是智慧）上赐给他们聪明知识；但以理又明白各样的异象和梦兆。

¹⁸ 尼布甲尼撒王预定带进少年人来的日期满了，太监长就把他们带到王面前。

¹⁹ 王与他们谈论，见少年人中无一人能比但以理、哈拿尼雅、米沙利、亚撒利雅，所以留他们在王面前侍立。

²⁰ 王考问他们一切事，就见他们的智慧聪明比通国的术士和用法术的胜过十倍。

²¹ 到古列王元年，但以理还在。

¹⁸ 并且从你本身所生的众子，其中必有被掳去在巴比伦王宫里当太监的。

¹ Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;'

² and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

³ I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, "Call his name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.'

⁴ For before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria."

⁵ Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying,

⁶ "Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

⁷ now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.

⁸ It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.

⁹ Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰ Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us."

¹¹ For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹² "Don't say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all about which this people say, 'A conspiracy!' neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.

¹³ Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.

¹⁴ He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured."

¹⁶ Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.

¹⁷ I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

¹⁸ Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.

¹⁹ When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰ Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

²¹ They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,

²² and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.