The kingtalkedwith them, and out of them allnot one was foundlike Daniel,Hananiah,Mishaeland Azariah;so they enteredthe king'spersonalservice.
Now Josephwas thirtyyearsoldwhen he stoodbeforePharaoh,kingof Egypt.And Josephwentout from the presenceof Pharaohand wentthroughallthe landof Egypt.
Now Elijahthe Tishbite,who was of the settlersof Gilead,saidto Ahab,"As the LORD,the Godof Israellives,beforewhomI stand,surelythere shall be neitherdewnor raintheseyears,exceptby my word."
Do you seea manskilledin his work?He will standbeforekings;He will not standbeforeobscuremen.
Therefore,thussaysthe LORD,"Ifyou return,then I will restoreyou-- BeforeMe you will stand;And ifyou extractthe preciousfrom the worthless,You will becomeMy spokesman.They for their partmay turnto you, But as for you, you must not turnto them.
Then at the endof the dayswhichthe kinghad specifiedfor presentingthem, the commanderof the officialspresentedthem beforeNebuchadnezzar.
youthsin whomwas nodefect,who were good-looking,showingintelligencein every[branch of] wisdom,endowedwith understandingand discerningknowledge,and whohad abilityfor servingin the king'scourt;and [he ordered him] to teachthem the literatureand languageof the Chaldeans.
The kingappointedfor them a dailyrationfrom the king'schoicefoodand from the winewhichhe drank,and [appointed] that they should be educatedthreeyears,at the endof which they were to enterthe king'spersonalservice.
Now among them from the sonsof Judahwere Daniel,Hananiah,Mishaeland Azariah.
Then the commanderof the officialsassigned[new] namesto them; and to Danielhe assigned[the name] Belteshazzar,to HananiahShadrach,to MishaelMeshachand to AzariahAbed-nego.
So the decreewentforththat the wisemenshould be slain;and they lookedfor Danieland his friendsto kill[them].
"Therefore I makea decreethat anypeople,nationor tonguethat speaksanything offensiveagainstthe Godof Shadrach,Meshachand Abed-negoshall be tornlimbfrom limb and their housesreducedto a rubbishheap,inasmuchas thereis noothergodwhois ableto deliverin thisway."
