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I ate no rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I did not anoint myself with oil until the three weeks were completed.
Daniel 10:3 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB I ate no pleasant bread, neither came meat nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
  • KJV I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
  • NKJV I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
  • NASB I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.
  • NLT All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Daniel mourns and fasts from rich food, meat, and wine for three weeks, seeking the Lord. His self-denial shows that earnest prayer often goes hand in hand with humbling the body.

Overview

Now an old man, Daniel sets himself to seek God over the unfinished restoration of his people after the exile. He abstains from delicacies and the ordinary comforts of anointing oil as an expression of grief and dependence. Such fasting is never a way to earn God's favor but a posture of humble waiting that prepares the heart to receive His word. It anticipates the believer who learns from Christ to deny self and seek first the kingdom of God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Matt 6:17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
  • Dan 11:8He will take even their gods captive to Egypt, with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold. For some years he will stay away from the king of the North,
  • 1 Cor 9:27No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
  • Amos 5:11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
  • Dan 6:18Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.
  • Isa 24:6–11Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.
  • Nah 2:9“Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
  • 2 Sam 19:24Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.
  • Job 33:20so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Daniel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Daniel 10:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on DanielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Daniel sees the stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms, and 'one like a son of man' given everlasting dominion — titles and visions Jesus claims as his own.

How Daniel 10:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.