It belongs to the apocalyptic genre that the meaning of the vision should be unfolded step by step (if necessary), not that the meaning should actually change from one unfolding to the next. It is thus perfectly proper to allow the fullest, final statement (v. 27) to be determinative for the earlier ones; and the addition of ‘people’ to ‘saints of the most high’ at this point can therefore safely be taken as an indication that this was the reference always intended.40
