Daniel 7:27 promises that God’s kingdom, the authority over every earthly power, will finally be handed to God’s holy people, and that this kingdom will never end. The verse is a statement of hope in the middle of a frightening vision, meant to assure a suffering people that the final word belongs to God. It is spoken by the angelic interpreter who explains the vision to the prophet Daniel, and it reports what will happen after the great beast and its horns are judged.
The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.’
Daniel 7:27 (WEB)
What Daniel 7:27 Means
The verse begins by naming “the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky.” Those words describe the rule and power that the earth’s empires have claimed for themselves. The verse says that this rule, in all its size and splendor, will be given away to someone else. It is a transfer of authority, not a gradual improvement of the old systems.
The recipient is “the people of the saints of the Most High.” In this book, “saints” refers to God’s faithful people, the ones who refuse to bow to the powers of the age, even when that refusal is costly. The phrase “Most High” is a title for God that stresses his supremacy over every other claim to power. The verse therefore promises that the faithful will one day share in the rule that belongs to God.
The last sentence adds that God’s kingdom is “everlasting” and that “all dominions will serve and obey him.” The verse does not promise comfort, wealth, or an easy life for believers in the present. It promises a future reversal in which God’s authority is recognized everywhere and the believers who trusted him are vindicated.
The Context of Daniel 7:27
The book of Daniel was written to a Jewish community living under foreign rule, most likely during the Babylonian and then Greek periods. Its chapters alternate between court stories and visions of future events, and chapter 7 belongs to the visionary half. Tradition attributes the book to Daniel himself, though many scholars date its final form to the second century before Christ, during the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes.
Just before verse 27, verses 24 through 26 describe a hostile ruler who will speak against God, wear down the holy people, and try to change sacred times and laws. That opposition is real and sustained, lasting “a time and times and half a time.” Verse 27 answers it directly: the judgment will be set, and the power of this ruler will be taken away. Read in that setting, the verse is not a detached prediction. It is the answer God gives to a community that has been under pressure.
Key Phrases in Daniel 7:27
Revelation 11:15
The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
(WEB)
This verse announces that the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, and that he will reign forever. It develops the same promise of God’s everlasting rule that Daniel 7:27 proclaims, now in the language of the New Testament.
Daniel 7:18
But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
(WEB)
Just before the judgment scene, this verse says that the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess it forever. It sets the pattern that Daniel 7:27 later expands, showing that the promise was central to the vision from the beginning.
A Short Prayer From Daniel 7:27
Lord, you are the Most High, and every power in this world answers to you. When the authorities around me seem too strong and my own strength feels small, remind me that your kingdom is the one that will last. Keep me faithful in the ordinary places where I live and work, and help me trust that you will bring your justice to completion. Give me patience for the waiting and courage for the present. Amen.
