Daniel 1:15

Good News Translation

When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
At the end of ten days they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.

Hebrew Names Version
At the end of ten days their faces appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths who ate of the king's dainties.

King James Version
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.

English Standard Version
At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food.

New American Standard Bible
And at the end of ten days their appearance seemed better, and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food.

New Century Version
After ten days they looked healthier and better fed than all the young men who ate the king's food.

Amplified Bible
At the end of ten days it seemed that they were looking better and healthier than all the young men who ate the king's finest food.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And at the end of ten dayes, their countenances appeared fayrer, and in better liking then all the childrens, which did eate the portion of the Kings meate.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food.

Berean Standard Bible
And at the end of ten days, their appearance was better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king's food.

Contemporary English Version
Ten days later, Daniel and his friends looked healthier and better than the young men who had been served food from the royal palace.

Complete Jewish Bible
At the end of ten days they looked better and more robust than all the boys who were eating the king's food.

Darby Translation
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and were fatter in flesh than all the youths that ate of the king's delicate food.

Easy-to-Read Version
After ten days, Daniel and his friends looked healthier than all the young men who ate the king's food.

George Lamsa Translation
And at the end of ten days he saw that their countenances were much fairer and fatter than those of all the boys who ate of the kings delicacies.

Lexham English Bible
And at the end of ten days their appearances appeared better and they were healthier of body than all the young men who were eating the fine food of the king.

Literal Translation
And at the end of ten days their faces looked better and fatter of flesh than all the boys who were eating the king's food.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And after ye ten dayes, their faces were better lykinge & fatter, then all the yonge spryngaldes, which ate of the kinges meate.

American Standard Version
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king's dainties.

Bible in Basic English
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.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king's food.

King James Version (1611)
And at the end often dayes, their countenances appeared fairer, and fatter in flesh, then all the children, which did eate the portion of the kings meat.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And at the end of ten dayes, their countenaunces appeared fairer and fatter in fleshe then all the childrens which did eate the portion of the kinges meate.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And at the end of the ten days their countenances appeared fairer and stouter in flesh, than the children that fed at the king’s table.

English Revised Version
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths which did eat of the king's meat.

World English Bible
At the end of ten days their faces appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths who ate of the king's dainties.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe after ten daies the cheris of hem apperiden betere and fattere, than alle the children that eeten the kyngis mete.

Update Bible Version
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that ate of the king's dainties.

Webster's Bible Translation
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children who ate the portion of the king's provision.

New English Translation
At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

New King James Version
And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies.

New Living Translation
At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.

New Life Bible
At the end of ten days they looked even better. They were fatter than all the young men who had been eating the king's best food.

New Revised Standard
At the end of ten days it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the royal rations.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and, at the end of ten days, their countenances appeared more comely, and fatter in flesh, - than any of the youths who had been eating the delicacies of the king.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And after ten days, their faces appeared fairer and fatter than all the children that ate of the king’s meat.

Revised Standard Version
At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's rich food.

Young's Literal Translation
and at the end of ten days their appearance hath appeared better and fatter in flesh then any of the lads who are eating the king's portion of food.

Contextual Overview

⁸ Daniel made up his mind not to let himself become ritually unclean by eating the food and drinking the wine of the royal court, so he asked Ashpenaz to help him, ⁹ and God made Ashpenaz sympathetic to Daniel. ¹⁰ Ashpenaz, however, was afraid of the king, so he said to Daniel, "The king has decided what you are to eat and drink, and if you don't look as fit as the other young men, he may kill me." ¹¹ So Daniel went to the guard whom Ashpenaz had placed in charge of him and his three friends. ¹² "Test us for ten days," he said. "Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare us with the young men who are eating the food of the royal court, and base your decision on how we look." ¹⁴ He agreed to let them try it for ten days. ¹⁵ When the time was up, they looked healthier and stronger than all those who had been eating the royal food. ¹⁶ So from then on the guard let them continue to eat vegetables instead of what the king provided.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

their: Exodus 23:25, Deuteronomy 28:1-14, 2 Kings 4:42-44, Psalms 37:16, Proverbs 10:22, Haggai 1:6, Haggai 1:9, Malachi 2:2, Matthew 4:4, Mark 6:41, Mark 6:42

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 19:8 - in the strength Lamentations 4:7 - purer

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and fatter in flesh,.... At the time fixed for the trial of them, when they came to be examined, they appeared to be of a better complexion, and a more healthful look, and even plumper and fatter, with good solid flesh, and not swelled up as persons in a dropsy:

than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat: who appeared at the same time, and were compared with them, being under the care of the same persons: now this was owing to the blessing of divine Providence, as Jacchiades observes; for, how healthful soever pulse may be, or the several things designed by it, particularly rice, of which Aben Ezra on the place gives great encomiums, as very salutary and nourishing, and a purifier of the blood; yet neither that, nor any of the things before mentioned, tend to make persons fat in flesh, as these were.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer - Hebrew, “good;” that is, they appeared more beautiful and healthful. The experiment was successful. There was no diminution of beauty, of vigour, or of the usual indications of health. One of the results of a course of temperance appears in the countenance, and it is among the wise appointments of God that it should be so. He has so made us, that while the other parts of the body may be protected from the gaze of men, it is necessary that the “face” should be exposed. Hence, he has made the countenance the principal scat of expression, for the chief muscles which indicate expression have their location there. See the valuable work of Sir Charles Bell on the “Anatomy of Expression,” London, 1844. Hence, there are certain marks of guilt and vice which always are indicated in the countenance. God has so made us that the drunkard and the glutton must proclaim their own guilt and shame.

The bloated face, the haggard aspect, the look of folly, the “heaviness of the eye, the disposition to squint, and to see double, and a forcible elevation of the eyebrow to counteract the dropping of the upper eyelid, and preserve the eyes from closing,” are all marks which God has appointed to betray and expose the life of indulgence. “Arrangements are made for these expressions in the very anatomy of the face, and no art of man can prevent it.” - Bell on the “Anatomy of Expression,” p. 106. God meant that if man “would” be intemperate he should himself proclaim it to the world, and that his fellow-men should be apprised of his guilt. This was intended to be one of the safeguards of virtue. The young man who will be intemperate “knows” what the result must be. He is apprised of it in the loathsome aspect of every drunkard whom he meets. He knows that if he yields himself to indulgence in intoxicating drink, he must soon proclaim it himself to the wide world.

No matter how beautiful, or fresh, or blooming, or healthful, he may now be; no matter how bright the eye, or ruddy the cheek, or eloquent the tongue; the eye, and the cheek, and the tongue will soon become indices of his manner of life, and the loathsomeness and offensiveness of the once beautiful and blooming countenance must pay the penalty of his folly. And in like manner, and for the same reason, the countenance is an indication of temperance and purity. The bright and steady eye, the blooming cheek, the lips that eloquently or gracefully utter the sentiments of virtue, proclaim the purity of the life, and are the natural indices to our fellow-men that we live in accordance with the great and benevolent laws of our nature, and are among the rewards of temperance and virtue.