Bible Strands
Daniel 1:13
Then compare our appearances with those of the young men who are eating the royal food, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Daniel addresses the chief eunuch, proposing a ten-day trial to compare his group’s physical condition against those consuming the royal diet before a final judgment is rendered.
The words — מַרְאֵי/נוּ (mar.'Ei./nu) and וּ/מַרְאֵה (u./mar.'Eh) derive from the root מָרָא (H7200) meaning “appearance” or “countenance,” emphasizing the outward physical condition that will be observed.
The thread — The verse advances the immediate trial’s purpose by linking dietary obedience to observable physical results, a structural pattern that repeats whenever covenant boundaries are tested against surrounding royal or cultural practices.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that voluntary dietary restraint produces measurable outcomes and to submit to the authority that evaluates those outcomes without prejudice.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.