What Does Daniel 7:18 Mean?
But the set-apart ones of the Uplifted One shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom to the age, even to the ages of ages.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.THE KEY
The kingdom is governance received by the set-apart and held as an inheritance across the ages.
THE MEANING
The set-apart people receive the Most High’s governance and come to possess it as an inheritance. This is a present belonging, and its reach stretches through age after age.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the set-apart can only remain subjects while lasting power belongs to those who hold it now.
THE ROOT
וִיקַבְּלוּן
wi-qabbəlun
GROWS FROM
קבל
q-b-l
Receive, accept, take in.
“receive” in this verse is wi-qabbəlun. The verb translated “take” carries the sense of receiving, so the movement into rule begins with reception. The same root holds the idea of accepting or taking something in.
ALSO GROWS
qibbel: Receive, accept.
קִבֵּל
This Hebrew form shares the receiving sense, showing that the kingdom comes to the saints as something they receive.
qabbalah: Reception; that which is received.
קַבָּלָה
This noun preserves the same root idea of receiving, echoing the verse’s movement from gift to possession.
מַלְכוּתָא
malkuta
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
Rule, reign, kingly authority.
Malkuta can name a kingdom, kingship, or reign. The word holds a realm together with the act of ruling, so the inheritance here is participation in the Most High’s governance.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King; one who rules.
מֶלֶךְ
The king is the bearer of the same rule named by malkuta.
malakh: Reign, rule.
מָלַךְ
This verb makes the active force inside “kingdom” visible: the saints receive a share in the act of ruling.
עָלְמָא
ʿalma
GROWS FROM
עלם
ʿ-l-m
Age, an enduring span of time.
“to the age” in this verse is ʿalma. The Aramaic repeats age-language: “until the age” and “until the age of ages.” The inheritance is described as stretching through ages, giving the verse’s promise an unfolding span.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolam: Age, ages; an enduring span.
עוֹלָם
This Hebrew cognate carries the same age-language that lies beneath the verse’s repeated duration.
almayya: Ages; age of ages.
עָלְמַיָּא
This Aramaic form appears in the verse’s final phrase and intensifies the reach of the kingdom’s inheritance.
THE PATTERN
The Most High’s governance is given to a set-apart community, whose inheritance reaches across the ages.
And the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under all the heavens, shall be given to the people of the set-apart ones of the Uplifted One, whose kingdom is a kingdom of ages, and all dominions shall serve him, and hear and respond.Therefore, receiving an unshakable governance, let us hold favor, through which we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe.Hear, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose the emptied ones of this world, rich in trust, and heirs of the governance that he promised to those who love him?THE THREAD
Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the set-apart ones of the Uplifted One. And the time reached, and the set-apart ones possessed the kingdom.The Aramaic verb behind “possessed” shares the ḥ-s-n root with “possess” in Daniel 7:18. Its recurrence makes the saints’ inheritance a repeated movement in the vision.
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