D: 2 CHRONICLES 36:20‒23

The two books of Chronicles record the history of Israel up to tire end of the Jewish exile in Babylon. These books, therefore, must have been finished some time after that event. The last verses of 2Chronicles connect the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years with the Persian conquest of Babylon and the end of the Jewish captivity, as follows:

2Chronicles 36:20‒23

20 Furthermore, he [Nebuchadnezzar] carried off those remaining from tire sword captive to Babylon, and they came to be servants to him and his sons until the royalty of Persia began to reign; 21 to fulfill Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid off its Sabbaths. All the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath,to fulfill seventy years.

22 And in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, that Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah roused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, so that he caused a cry to pass through all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying: 23 “This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has said, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me, and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among YOU of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him. So let him go up.’ “(NW)

It may be observed that the Chronicler repeatedly emphasizes the agreement between the prophecies of Jeremiah and its fulfillment in the events he records. Thus the statement in verse 20 is an application of Jeremiah 27:7 “And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes’». This time of Babylon came, the Chronicler explains, when “the royalty of Persia began to reign [i.e., in 539 B.C.E.], to fulfill Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah, ... to fulfill seventy years.” This, then, would also fulfill the prediction at Jeremiah 25:12 Babylon would come “when seventy years have been fulfilled.” Thus the Chronicler seems clearly to be saying that the seventy years were fulfilled at the Persian conquest of Babylon.

What complicates the matter in our text is the statement (italicized in the quotation above) about the “sabbath rest” of the land, which is inserted in the middle of the reference to Jeremiah’s prophecy. This has caused a number of scholars to conclude that the Chronicler reinterpreted the prophecy of Jeremiah by applying the seventy years to the period of the desolation of Judah.³⁵⁷

Such an understanding, however, would not only conflict with Jeremiah’s prophecy; it would also contradict the Chronicler’s own emphasis on the agreement between the original prophecy and its fulfillment. So what did the Chronicler mean by his insertion of the statement about the sabbath rest of the land?

D‒1: The sabbath rest of the land

A cursory reading of verse 21 could give the impression that the Chronicler states that the land had enjoyed a sabbadi rest of seventy years, and that this had been predicted by Jeremiah. But Jeremiah does not speak of the seventy years in terms of allowing the land to pay off its sabbath years. In fact, there is no reference at all to a sabbath rest for the land in his book.

Therefore Ezra’s words, “until the land had paid off its sabbaths; all the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath,” could not be a fulfillment of “Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah.” The two clauses about the sabbath rest are, as has been observed by Bible commentators, a reference to another prediction, found at Leviticus, chapter 26

Among other things, this chapter forewarns that, if the people did not obey the law of the sabbatical pears (discussed in the preceding chapter, Leviticus 25 scattered among the nations and their land would be desolated.³⁵⁸ would be allowed to “pay off its sabbaths”:

At that time the land will pay off its sabbaths all the days of its lying desolated, while YOU are in the land of YOUR enemies. At that time the land will keep sabbath, as it must repay its sabbaths. All the days of its lying desolated it will keep sabbath, for the reason that it did not keep sabbath during YOUR sabbaths when YOU were dwelling upon it. – Leviticus 26:34

Like Daniel earlier, the writer of the Chronicles understood the desolation of Judah to be a fulfillment of this curse predicted in the law of Moses. He therefore inserted this prediction from Leviticus 26 was fulfilled after the final deportation to Babylon, exactly as was predicted through Moses, “while you are in the land of your enemies.³⁵⁹ clauses from Leviticus 26 the Chronicler did not mean to say that the land enjoyed a sabbath rest of seventy years, as this was not predicted, either by Moses or by Jeremiah. He does not tell explicitly how long it rested, only that “all the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath.” – 2Chronicles 36:20 rest was 49 years, from the final desolation and depopulation in 587 B.C.E. until the return of the exiles in 538. Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but this was also the maximal period during which a Hebrew could be deprived of the proprietorship of his ancestral inheritance, according to the law of land tenure. If he became so poor that he had to sell his land, it could not be sold beyond reclaim. If it could not be bought back, the purchaser had to return it to him at the next jubilee. – Leviticus 25:8‒28 corresponded to the exact number of sabbatical years that had been neglected by the Israelites, the whole period of violation of the law would be 49 x 7 = 343 years. If this period extended to 587 B.C.E., its beginning would date from about 930 B.C.E. Interestingly, modern chronologers who have carefully examined both the Biblical and extra‒Biblical evidence, usually date the division of the kingdom to 930 B.C.E. or thereabouts. (F. X. Kugler, for example, has 930, E. R. Thiele and K. A. Kitchen 931/30, and W. H. Barnes 932 B.C.E.) As this national disaster resulted in a massive break away from the temple cult in Jerusalem by a majority of the people, it is not unreasonable to think that an extensive neglect of the sabbatical years also dates from this time.

As with Daniel, the main interest of the Chronicler was the return of the exiles, and therefore he points out that they had to remain in Babylonia until two prophecies had been fulfilled: (1) that of Jeremiah on the seventy years of supremacy “for Babylon,” and (2) that in Leviticus on the desolation and sabbath rest for the land of Judah. These prophecies should not be mixed up or confused, as is often done. Not only do they refer to periods of different character and different lengths; they also refer to different nations. But as the two periods were closely connected in that the end of one period was contingent on the end of the other, the Chronicler, like Daniel, brought them together.

D‒2: Jeremiah’s prophecy on the return of the exiles

Many commentators hold that the Chronicler ended the seventy years in the first year of Cyrus (538/37 B.C.E.), because of what he says in the last two verses:

And in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, that Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah roused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, so that he caused a cry to pass through all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying:

”This is what Cyrus the king of Persia has said, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me, and he himselt has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among YOU of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him. So let him go up.’ “– 2Chronicles 36:22

If Jehovah’s word “by the mouth of Jeremiah” is here taken to be another reference to the seventy years, it might prove that Ezra ended that period in 538/37 B.C.E. But in view of the fact that these verses actually deal with Cyrus’ decree allowing the Jews to return to their homeland, it is more natural to understand his reference to Jeremiah’s prophecy as a reference to what the prophet said immediately after his prediction of the seventy years “for Babylon” at Jeremiah 29:10

For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you andfulfill my good word to you, to bring you back‒to this place.’ –Jeremiah 29:10

Note that the prophet did not say that Jehovah first would visit the exiles, causing them to return to Jerusalem, and that as a result of that the seventy years would be accomplished. This is how the Watch Tower Society applies this prophecy. To the contrary, the prophet clearly states that the seventy years would be accomplished first, and after their fulfillment Jehovah would visit the exiles and cause them to return to Jerusalem. The seventy years, then, would be fulfilled while the Jewish exiles were still in Babylon!

And so it happened: Babylon fell to Cyrus, the king of Persia, in October, 539 B.C.E., thus fulfilling the prophecy of the seventy years “for Babylon.” The next year Cyrus issued his decree, allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem.³⁶⁰ years at the fall of Babylon, and the return of the Jews one year later are two separate events, and it is the last of these that Ezra is speaking of at 2Chronicles 36:22 reference to the word “by the mouth of Jeremiah” in these verses, then, must be a reference to the second half of verse 10 in chapter 29 of the book of Jeremiah

Thus we find that 2Chronicles 36:20‒23 harmony with the prophecy of Jeremiah on the seventy years. The Chronicler ends the period while the Jewish exiles were still living in Babylonia, when “the royalty of Persia began to reign” in 539 B.C.E. He lays stress upon the fact that the Jewish exiles could not return to Jerusalem until Babylon’s seventy years had been fulfilled, and the land had paid off its sabbaths. After that Jehovah caused them to return to their homeland, in fulfillment of Jeremiah 29:10b year of Cyrus. The words of the Chronicler, correctly understood, cannot be taken to mean that the desolation of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple lasted for seventy years.

The last two texts to be discussed, Zechariah 1:7‒12 are sometimes thought to be two additional references to Jeremiah’s prophecy about the seventy years, and the Watch Tower Society holds them to be so. But the evidence for this conclusion is totally lacking.

None of the texts contains any reference to Jeremiah (as do Daniel 9:1 of these texts strongly indicates that the seventy years mentioned there must be given a different application. This is also the conclusion of many commentators.³⁶¹ This will also become apparent in the following discussion.

The first statement about a period of seventy years in the book of Zechariah appears in a vision given to Zechariah on “the twenty­fourth [day] of the eleventh month, that is, the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius.” – Zechariah 1:7

Darius’ second regnal year corresponded to 520/19 B.C.E., and the twenty‒fourth day of the eleventh month may be translated to 15 February 519 B.C.E. in the Julian calendar. Chronology 626 B.C.‒A.D. 75 (Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University Press, 1956), p. 30. This presupposes that the date is given according to the Persian accession year system. If Zechariah applies the Jewish nonaccession year system, the date would have fallen about one year earlier, in February, 520 B.C.E. (See E. J. Bickerman’s discussion of this problem in Revue Biblique, Vol. 88, 1981, pp. 19‒28). The Watch Tower Society accepts the secular dating of Darius’ reign, as may be seen, for example, on page 124 of the book Paradise Restored to Mankind – By Theocracy! (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1972). work on the temple in Jerusalem five months earlier (Haggai 1:1 Judah were still in a sorry condition. That is why the angel in Zechariah’s vision brings up a question that undoubtedly troubled many of the repatriated Jews:

Zechariah 1:12

So the angel of Jehovah answered and said: “O Jehovah of armies, how long will you yourself not show mercy to Jerusalem and to tire cities of Judah, whom you have denounced these seventy years?” (NW)

E‒1: Denunciation for seventy years or ninety?

According to the angel, Jehovah had denounced Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years. The Watch Tower Society applies these seventy years of denouncement (”indignation,” KJV, ASV; ‘wrath,” NEB) to the period 607‒537 B.C.E., thus equating them with the seventy years of Jeremiah 25:10 pp. 131‒134. though, that the reason why the angel put this question about the denouncement was that Jehovah still, in Darius’ second year (519 B.C.E.), had not shown mercy to the cities of Judah. Or did the angel mean to say that Jehovah had denounced Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years up to 537 B.C.E., and then continued to be hostile against them for about eighteen more years up to 519? This would make the period of hostility nearly ninety years, not seventy.³⁶²

But the “indignation” or “wrath” clearly refers to the devastated state of the cities of Judah, including Jerusalem and its temple, which began after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. This condition was still prevailing, as may be seen from Jehovah’s answer to the angel’s question:

Therefore this is what Jehovah has said, “I shall certainly return to Jerusalem with mercies. My own house will be built in her,” is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, “and a measuring line itself will be stretched out over Jerusalem.”

Call out further, saying, “This is what Jehovah of armies has said: ‘My cities will yet overflow with goodness; and Jehovah will yet certainly feel regrets over Zion and yet actually choose Jerusalem.’ “– Zechariah 1:16

Counted from 587 B.C.E. the indignation had now, in 519, lasted for nearly seventy years, or sixty‒eight years to be exact. And if counted from the beginning of the siege on January 27, 589 B.C.E. (2 Kings 25:1 had lasted for almost exactly seventy years on February 15, 519. But just two months earlier the work on the foundation of the temple had been finished. (Haggai 2:18 onward Jehovah began to remove his indignation: “From this day I shall bestow blessing.” – Haggai 2:19

It seems clear, therefore, that the seventy years mentioned in this text do not refer to the prophecy of Jeremiah, but simply to the time that had elapsed by 519 B.C.E. since the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 589‒587 B.C.E.³⁶³

That seventy years elapsed from the destruction of the temple in 587 B.C.E. to its rebuilding in the years 520‒515 is also confirmed by the next text in the book of Zechariah to be considered.

Again, the event recorded in this passage is exactly dated, to “the fourth year of Darius ... on the fourth [day] of the ninth month.” (Zech.7:1 date corresponds to December 7, 518 B.C.E. (Julian calendar).³⁶⁴

Zechariah 7:1‒5

Furthermore, it came about that in the fourth year of Darius the king the word of Jehovah occurred to Zechariah, on the fourth [day] of the ninth month, [that is,] in Chislev. And Bethel proceeded to send Sharezer and Regem‒melech and his men to soften the face of Jehovah, saying to the priests who belonged to the house of Jehovah of armies, and to the prophets, even saying: “Shall I weep in the fifth month, practicing an abstinence, the way I have done these O how many years?” And the word of Jehovah of armies continued to occur to me, saying: “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When YOU fasted and there was a wailing in the fifth [month] and in the seventh [month], and this for seventy years [literally ‘these seventy years,’ as in 1:12], did you really fast to me, even me?’ “(NW)

Why did “all the people of the land” fast and wail in the fifth month and in the seventh month? Speaking of the fast in the fifth month the Watch Tower Society admits:

It was observed evidently on the tenth day of that month (Ab), in order to commemorate how on that day Nebuzaradan, the chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s bodyguard, after two days of inspection, burned down the city of Jerusalem and its temple. (Jer. 52:12 p. 235.

Further, the fast in the seventh month was “to commemorate the assassination of Governor Gedaliah, who was of the royal house of King David and whom Nebuchadnezzar made governor of the land for the poor Jews who were allowed to remain after the destruction of Jerusalem. (2 Kings 25:22‒25 various fateful events during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem were held in four different months: (1) in the tenth month (because of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in January, 589 B.C.E., 2 Kings 25:1 in July, 587 B.C.E., 2 Kings 25:2‒ 52:67 the fifth month (because of the burning of the temple in August, 587 B.C.E., 2 Kings 25:8 Gedaliah in October, 587 B.C.E., 2 Kings 25:22‒25

For how long had the Jews been fasting in these months in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and the assassination of Gedaliah? For “seventy years,” according to Zecharaiah 7:5 was the seventieth year since 587 B.C.E.!³⁶⁵

That the Jews still, in 518 B.C.E., held these fasts in the fifth and seventh months is clear from the fact that the men from Bethel had come to ask if they, “now that the faithful remnant of Jews were rebuilding the temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem and were about half through, should . . . continue to hold such a fast.”³⁶⁶

If now the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple is dated in 607 B.C.E. instead of 587, once again this would make the time these fasts had been observed ninety years rather than seventy. This is actually conceded by the Watch Tower Society in the book quoted above, but no satisfying explanation is given for this discrepancy.³⁶⁷

Thus Zechariah 1:7‒12 both give very strong support for the year 587 B.C.E. as the correct date for the destruction of Jerusalem. As in the case of Jeremiah 25:10 direct reading of Zechariah 1:7‒12 too, is seen to be in open conflict with the interpretation the Watch Tower Society gives to the seventy years.

From a close examination of the texts dealing with the seventy years, certain facts have been established that cannot be ignored in any attempt to find an application of the seventy‒year period that is in harmony with both the Bible and historical facts:

(1) The seventy years refer to many nations, not Judah only: Jeremiah 25:11

(2) The seventy years refer to a period of senitude for these nations, that is, vassalage to Babylon: Jeremiah 25:11

(3) The seventy years refer to the period of Babylonian supremacy, “seventy years for Babylon”: Jeremiah 29:10

(4) The seventy years were accomplished when the Babylonian king and his nation were punished, that is, in 539 B.C.E.: Jeremiah 25:12

(5) The seventy years of servitude began many years before the destruction of Jerusalem: Jeremiah chapters 27

(6) Zechariah 1:7‒12 Jeremiah’s prophey, but refer to the period from the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in the years 589‒587 to the rebuilding of the temple in the years 520‒515 B.C.E.

The application given by the Watch Tower Society to the seventy‒year prophecy, that it refers to Judah only, and to the period of complete desolation of the land, “without an inhabitant,” following the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, is seen to be in direct conflict with each of the above established Biblical and historical facts.

An application that is in clear conflict with both the Bible and such historical facts cannot have anything to do with reality. In a serious discussion of possible applications of the seventy years, this alternative is the first which must be rejected. It is held to by the Watch Tower Society, not because it can be supported by the Bible and historical facts, but because it is a necessary prerequisite for their calculation of the supposed 2,520 years of Gentile times, 607 B.C.E.‒1914 C.E.

If their application of the seventy years is dropped, the Gentile times calculation leading to 1914 C.E. immediately proves false, together with all the prophetic claims and speculations that are tied to it.

G‒1: The use of “seventy” as a “round” number

The conclusion arrived at in the above discussion is that Judah and a number of the surrounding nations became vassals to the king of Babylon soon after the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C.E. Does this mean that the seventy‒year period “for Babylon” must be applied to the period 605‒539 B.C.E.? To this suggestion it may quite naturally be objected that the length of this period is not seventy, but a litde more than sixty‒six years, which is, of course, true.

Many scholars argue, however, that the numeral “70” in the Bible often seems to be used as “a round number” It occurs fifty‒two times independently in the Old Testament, and is used with a variety of different meanings–for weights, lengths of measurements, numbers of people, periods of time, and so forth.³⁶⁸ discussion of the biblical use of the numeral “70,” which also includes extra‒biblical occurrences, Dr. F. C. Fensham concludes:

It is quite probably used as a kind of symbolic figure, just like seven. With the usage of seven and seventy the ancient Semites tried to make a difference between a smaller symbolic figure and a larger one.³⁶⁹

When used of periods of time it might have been used as an appropriate period of punishment. In a building inscription of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680‒667 B.C.E.), it is stated that the desolation of Babylon after its destruction by Sennacherib in 689 B.C.E. should have lasted seventy years, but the god Marduk in his mercy changed the period to eleven years.³⁷⁰ Isaiah predicted that “Tyre must be forgotten seventy years, the same as the days of one king.” (Isaiah 23:15 same as the days of one king” is often interpreted to mean a normal life‒span of a king, or “the full span of human life,” in accordance with Psalm 90:10 seventy clearly is not meant to be viewed as a precise figure.

Thus it is quite possible and perhaps probable that the seventy years of servitude predicted by Jeremiah were used as a round number. Such an understanding could also be supported by the fact that not all the nations surrounding Judah (some of which are obviously enumerated in Jeremiah 25:19‒26 to the king of Babylon at the same time, in 605 B.C.E. Some of them seem to have been brought into subjection somewhat later. The period of servitude, therefore, was not of exactly the same duration for all these nations. Yet the prophet said that all of them were to serve the king of Babylon “seventy years.”

G‒2: The seventy years ‘for Babylon”: 609‒539 B.C.E.

Although it is true that the servitude of a number of nations turned out to be somewhat less dian seventy years, the prophecy does not clearly imply that the seventy years “for Babylon” should be reckoned from 605 B.C.E. It must be remembered that all nations were predicted to become servants of Babylon: “all the nations must serve him and his son and his grandson.”³⁷¹ nations had become subject to Babylon even prior to the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C.E. If the seventy years “for Babylon” are counted from the time when Babylon crushed the Assyrian empire, thus beginning to step forward as the dominant political power itself, even a more exact application of the seventy years is possible. A short review of the last years of Assyria will make this clear.

Up to 627 B.C.E. Assyria held hegemony over many countries, including Babylonia and the Hattu‒area. But on the death of Ashurbanipal in that year, Assyria’s power began to wane. Nabopolassar, the governor of southern Babylonia, drove the Assyrians from Babylon in 626 and occupied the throne. In the following years he successfully established Babylonian independence.

The most important source for the history of the final years of the Assyrian empire is the Babylonian chronicle B.M. 21901, which describes the events from the tenth year of Nabopolassar until the beginning of his eighteenth regnal year, that is, from 616 to 608 B.C.E.

In 616, Nabopolassar attacked the Assyrians and defeated them, but an Egyptian army led by Psammetichus I came up to assist the Assyrian king (Sin‒shar‒ishkun), and Nabopolassar chose to withdraw to Babylon.

By this time the Medes, too, began to attack Assyria, and in 614 they took Ashur, the ancient Assyrian capital. After the city had fallen, Nabopolassar, whose army arrived too late to help the Medes, made a treaty with the Median ruler, Cyaxares.

In 612, the two allies attacked the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, captured it and destroyed it. The Assyrian king, Sin‒shar‒ishkun, perished in the flames. His successor, Ashur‒uballit II, fled to the provincial capital of Harran, where he established his government, still claiming sovereignty over Assyria.

During the subsequent years Nabopolassar successfully campaigned in Assyria, and by the end of 610, he marched against Harran, joined by Median forces.³⁷² 610 or early in 609 B.C.E.³⁷³ 609 Ashur‒uballit, supported by a large Egyptian force headed by Pharaoh Necho, made a last attempt to recapture Harran, but failed. This definitely put an end to the Assyrian empire.

That 609 B.C.E. marked the definite end of the Assyrian empire is the prevailing view among leading authorities today. Some typical statements are quoted in the following box:

THE FALL OF ASSYRIA – 609 B.C.E.

”In 610 the Babylonians and their allies took Harran, and Ashur‒uballit with the wreckage of his forces fell back across the Euphrates into the arms of the Egyptians. An attempt (in 609) to retake Harran foiled miserably. Assyria was finished.” – Professor John Bright, A History of Israel, 3rd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981), p. 316.

In 609 B.C.E. “Assyria ceased to exist and her territory was taken over by the Babylonians.” – Professor D. J. Wiseman in The New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas (ed.), 2nd ed. (Leicester, England: Inter‒Varsity Press, 1982), p. 101.

” In 609, the Babylonians finally routed the Assyrians and began the establishment of their control over Phoenicia, Syria and Palestine.” – The Russian Assyriologist M. A. Dandamaev in Histoy of Humanity, Vol. Ill, ed. by J. Herrman & E. Ziircher (Paris, London, New York: UNESCO, 1996), p. 117.

” In 609 Assyria was mentioned for the last time as a still existing but marginal formation in northwestern Mesopotamia. After that year Assyria ceased to exist.” – Stefan Zawadzki in Dhe Dall of Assyria (Poznan: Adam Mickiewicz University Press, 1988), p. 16.

Thus, the seventy years “for Babylon” may also be reckoned from 609 B.C.E. From that year the Babylonian king regarded himself as the legitimate successor of the king of Assyria, and in the following years he gradually took over the control of the latter’s territories, beginning with a series of campaigns in the Armenian mountains north of Assyria.

The Egyptian Pharaoh, Necho, after the failed attempt to recapture Harran in 609, succeeded in taking over the areas in the west, including Palestine, for about four years, although his control of these areas seems to have been rather general and loose.³⁷⁴ Carchemish in 605 B.C.E. put an end to this brief Egyptian presence in the west. (Jeremiah 46:2 series of successful campaigns to “Hattu,” Nebuchadnezzar made it clear to Necho that he was the real heir to the Assyrian Empire, and “never again did the king of Egypt come out from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that happened to belong to the king of Egypt up to the river of Euphrates.” – 2 Kings 24:7 is the obvious choice for the actual beginning of the seventy years. This is because of the fact that with Assyria out of the way, Babylon was truly the dominant power in the North.” – R. E. Winkle.

If the Babylonian supremacy is reckoned from 609 B.C.E., the year that marked the definite end of the Assyrian Empire, exactly seventy years elapsed up to the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E. This period may be counted as the “seventy years for Babylon.” (Jeremiah 29:10 scholars have been amazed at the exactness with which Jeremiah’s prediction was fulfilled. Some scholars have tried to explain this by suggesting that the passages in Jer. 25:11 29:10 were added to the book of Jeremiah after the Jewish exile. There is no evidence in support of this theory, however. Professor John Bright, for example, commenting on Jer. 29:10 says: “One cannot explain rationally why it was that Jeremiah was assured that Babylon’s rule would be so relatively brief. But there is no reason to regard the verse as a vaticinium ex eventu [a ‘p^r°phecy’ made after the event]; we can only record the fact that the prediction turned out to be approximately correct (which may be why later writers made so much of it). From the fall of Nineveh (612) to the fall of Babylon (539) was seventy‒three years; from Nebuchadnezzar’s accession (605) to the fall of Babylon was sixty‒six years.” – John Bright, The Anchor Bible: Jeremiah (Garden Citv, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 2nd. ed. 19861, pp. 208‒09.

As not all the nations previously ruled by Assyria were brought under the Babylonian yoke in that same year, the “seventy years” of servitude in reality came to mean a round number for mdividual nations .³⁷⁵