Daniel’s diet plan actually made him fat. You might miss this if you read the NIV, which says Daniel and his friends were “better nourished” than the young men who ate the royal fare (Dan. 1:15). The Hebrew word that is used here is actually bari, which means “fat.” The more literal ESV explains that Daniel and his friends had become “fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food” (emphasis added). They hadn’t lost weight but rather gained it on Daniel’s diet plan! They had expected a diet of only vegetables to leave them thin and weak, but God honored their faithfulness to
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