Daniel 1:12 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Give us pulse to eat - הזרעים hazzeraim, seeds or grain, such as barley, wheat, rye, and peas, etc. Though a vegetable diet might have produced that healthiness of the system in general, and of the countenance particularly, as mentioned here; yet we are to understand that there was an especial blessing of God in this, because this spare diet was taken on a religious account.