“holy ones.” Here in Daniel 7:18, the “holy ones” are the people who obey God. The text is traditionally rendered “saints,” but it refers to people who obey God, not to the Roman Catholic concept of “saints.” Both angels and God’s holy people are called “holy ones”, which makes sense because they are both holy before God. The reader must be sensitive to the context to see if the text is referring to a person or an angel (compare Dan. 7:18 with Dan. 8:13). In fact, many versions translate the Hebrew as “saints” when it refers to people and “holy ones” when it refers to angels, but the wording in the Hebrew text is the same.

“will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom.” For more on the kingdom, see commentary on Daniel 7:22.