Daniel 1:1-3

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Daniel Taken to Babylon

1 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and surrounded it with his army. This happened during the third year that Jehoiakim^[a] was king of Judah. ²The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar took all the dishes and other things from God’s Temple and carried them to Babylon.^[b] He put those things in the temple of his gods.

³Then King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, the man in charge of his officials, to bring some of the boys into the palace to train them. He was to include boys from among the Israelites,^[c] from important Judean families, and from the royal family of Judah.

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Footnotes

Daniel 1:1 the third year … Jehoiakim This was about 605 B.C.
Daniel 1:2 Babylon Literally, “Shinar,” which may be a form of the name Sumer.
Daniel 1:3 Israelites Here, this probably means “ordinary citizens of Judah and Israel.” But it could mean “people from the northern tribes of Israel.”