Daniel 1:14

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

So he listened to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וַיְנַסֵּ֖ם

nâçâh

H5254

“and · to test · them”

Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 36× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 22:1

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1373

to test, try, prove, tempt, assay, put to the proof or test - (Piel) - to test, try - to attempt, assay, try - to test, try, prove, tempt

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
6: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וַיְנַסֵּ֖ם to test H5254 occurs in 34 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
2 nouns
1 adjective
1 pronoun
1 preposition

Verb forms

וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיְנַסֵּ֖ם Piel · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 10 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 11 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Daniel 1:14 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע לָהֶ֖ם לַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֑ה וַיְנַסֵּ֖ם יָמִ֥ים עֲשָׂרָֽה

So he listened to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Daniel 1:14 Septuagint · lemma form

καί χράω αὐτός ὁ τρόπος οὗτος καί πειράζω αὐτός ἡμέρα δέκα

And he listened to them, and proved them ten days.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Pulpit Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Daniel 1:14 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Dan 1:14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.

Ver. 14. So he consented to them in this matter.] This had been well done, if done for God’s sake; but it was nothing less. He had a hawk’s eye herein to his own profit; he favoured them because he meant to finger something from them. These four made a mess.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ibn Ezra

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra

[Daniel 1:14] Vayishma (וַיִּשְׁמַע - And he listened/agreed): Yefet ben Ali said: that every day he [the guard/Meltsar] would observe their appearance (lit. "see their faces") throughout the ten-day period (lit. "until ten days").

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

14. consented] hearkened (R.V.),—the expression exactly as 1Sa_30:24.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

So he consented to them in all this matter,.... Or, "hearkened to them" (e); being convinced that it was a very reasonable request, and the matter was fairly put; and especially as he saw, if it succeeded to their wish, it would be to his profit; since the meat and drink of these four persons would be his perquisite, and fetch him money; pulse and water being to be obtained at an easy rate:

and proved them ten days; tried the experiment, by giving them pulse and water only during this time, in order to see how it would agree with them; and whether any visible alteration could be discerned in their countenances, so as to bring him or his master into suspicion and danger.

(e) "auscultans eis", Junius & Tremellius, Broughtonus; "auscultavit eis", Pisator, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So he consented to them in this matter - Hebrew, “he heard them in this thing.” The experiment was such, since it was to be for so short a time, that he ran little risk in the matter, as at the end of the ten days he supposed that it would be easy to change their mode of diet if the trial was unsuccessful.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. The literal rendering is, And he hearkened unto them as to this matter, proved them ten days. The Septuagint reading is again peculiar, "And he dealt with them after this manner, and proved them ten days." m is not very unlike h nor dbdl very unlike rbdk, and this is all the change implied. The Massoretic reading seems the more natural, but it might be argued that this very naturalness is the result of an effort to make the Hebrew more flowing. But further, from the fact that hce (asayh), imperative of the same verb, precedes almost immediately, the word might come in by accident, or another word somewhat like it might be misread into it. The consent of the subordinate official implies, if not the consent, at least the connivance, of the superior. As we have already explained from the arrangements of a Babylonian feast, the plan of the Hebrew youths could the more easily be carried out.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

tested them ... their appearance ... they were ... their delicacies ... their wine

All of these pronouns refer to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

nourished

This means to have been made healthy from what you have eaten.

translationWords

manager

test

king

wine

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Daniel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 7 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nâçâh (“to test”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to test” (nâçâh) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Genesis 22:1, which shares the word «to test», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Ibn Ezra read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 11 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.