607 for Beginners

“It is vital that you make this test, examining whether your beliefs are supported by the Scriptures.”—The Watchtower, 15 July 1965, p. 420.

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Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the Bible refers to seventy years of Jewish exile, from 607 BCE until 537 BCE, and that a special period ran from 607 BCE until 1914 CE. Their beliefs about 1914, the ‘last days’, and their ‘faithful slave class’ are all dependent on 607 BCE.

But what does the Bible really teach?^*
* Verses herein are considered from their contextual perspective; however, it is not necessary to assume that the Bible contains prophecies made in advance. It is likely that the accounts were written (or edited) after the events, presented in the context of ‘prophecy’ as a literary device. The story of Hananiah in chapter 28 of Jeremiah demonstrates that various views were in circulation, and the ones that turned out to be accurate were later retained and adapted as ‘prophetic scripture’ (a Texas sharpshooter fallacy). Some outcomes could also be reasonably predicted based on the political climate at the time. See also What Does the Bible Really Teach… about Babylon’s 70 years? (PDF), What Does the Bible Really Teach… about Daniel’s 70 weeks? (PDF) and What Does the Bible Really Teach… about the Gentile Times? (PDF).

Who would serve Babylon for 70 years?

All the surrounding nations would serve Babylon for seventy years.

• Jeremiah 25:9–11: I am sending for all the families of the north,” declares Jehovah, “sending for King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and something to whistle at and a perpetual ruin. ¹⁰ I will put an end to the sound of exultation and the sound of rejoicing from them, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and the light of the lamp. ¹¹ And all this land will be reduced to ruins and will become an object of horror, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.”’
• Jeremiah 27:6–7: And now I have given all these lands into the hand of my servant King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon; even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, when many nations and great kings will make him their slave.’
• Isaiah’s Prophecy—Light for All Mankind, vol. 1, chap. 19, p. 253: Jehovah, through Jeremiah, includes Tyre among the nations that will be singled out to drink the wine of His rage. He says: “These nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:8–17, 22, 27) True, the island-city of Tyre is not subject to Babylon for a full 70 years, since the Babylonian Empire falls in 539 B.C.E. Evidently, the 70 years represents the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination—when the Babylonian royal dynasty boasts of having lifted its throne even above “the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14:13) Different nations come under that domination at different times. But at the end of 70 years, that domination will crumble.

When did Babylon’s 70 years begin?

Babylon’s 70 years began in 609 BCE (629 BCE in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ chronology) when Babylon conquered Assyria, replacing it as the new ‘world power’. According to Jeremiah, the nations had been ‘given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar’—already prominant in Nabopolassar’s army in 609 BCE—at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign, even before the Jews began paying tribute to Babylon. (Most Hebrew manuscripts refer to Jehoiakim at Jeremiah 27:1 but a few refer to Zedekiah.^* However, verse 12 indicates that Jeremiah also gave similar warnings to Zedekiah, suggesting Jeremiah’s message was given to both kings.) Jeremiah 26:1 also indicates warnings to Jehoiakim at the beginning of his reign. Babylon’s conquest of Tyre’s Assyrian trading partners further indicates the beginning of the period.
* Jeremiah 27:1 does not appear in the Septuagint, suggesting it may not have been included in the earliest versions of Jeremiah. However, the addition of the verse affirms that the Jews understood the period to have begun at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. In either case, Jeremiah 27:6 is not compatible with Jehovah’s Witnesses’ view that the nations were only ‘given into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand’ when Jerusalem was destroyed.

• Jeremiah 26:1: In the beginning of the reign of Je·hoiʹa·kim son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, this word came from Jehovah:
• Jeremiah 27:1, 6, 9, 12: In the beginning of the reign of Je·hoiʹa·kim son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah: … ⁶ And now I have given all these lands into the hand of my servant King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon; even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. … ⁹ “‘“‘Therefore, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your magicians, and your sorcerers, who are saying to you: “You will not serve the king of Babylon.” … ¹² Also to King Zed·e·kiʹah of Judah I spoke in the same way, saying: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and you will keep living.
• Isaiah 23:15: In that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the same as the lifetime of one king. At the end of 70 years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of a prostitute:
• Ezekiel 27:23: Haʹran, Canʹneh, Eʹden, the merchants of Sheʹba, Asʹshur, and Chilʹmad traded with you.
• The Watchtower, 1 March 1988, p. 29: It was a century after Isaiah’s time that Babylon and her allies conquered Assyria, and Babylon became the new world power.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 2, p. 804: Evidently Pharaoh Nechoh encamped at Riblah after defeating King Josiah, about 629 B.C.E. He was at that time marching N to fight against the Babylonians, who by then dominated Assyria.

Can Jeremiah 27:6 refer to Nebuchadnezzar as king while he was still prince?

It can (but it does not have to). Nebuchadnezzar can be referred to as a king while he was actually prince, in the same manner that prince Belshazzar is referred to as king.^* The Bible does not mention either of their fathers, Nabopolassar or Nabonidus. Though Jeremiah 27:7 only refers to “[Nebuchadnezzar] and his son and his grandson”, there were actually seven Babylonian rulers during the seventy years. (Additionally, the overall context of Jeremiah chapter 27 indicates that it was written after the reign of Jehoiakim when Nebuchadnezzar was already king.)
* Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar never actually became king.

• Jeremiah 27:6–7: And now I have given all these lands into the hand of my servant King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon; even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, when many nations and great kings will make him their slave.’
• Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy!, chap. 3, p. 32 par. 4: Nebuchadnezzar was not yet “the king of Babylon” but was the crown prince.
• Daniel 5:1: As regards King Bel·shazʹzar, he held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of them.
• The Watchtower, 1 February 1986, p. 27: Belshazzar—Crown Prince or King? … So there was a Belshazzar in Babylon! Since 1854, many other inscriptions have been found to confirm this. However, none of those inscriptions call Belshazzar king. They refer to him as the king’s son or as crown prince.
• The Watchtower, 15 September 1998, p. 9: So it would not be unprecedented for Belshazzar to be called crown prince in the official Babylonian inscriptions while being called king in the Aramaic writing of Daniel.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 2, p. 480: [Belshazzar] acted as king, his father’s agent, although he may not have been legally king. The precise distinction would have been irrelevant and confusing in the story as related in Daniel.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, p. 425: Particularly was this domination manifest during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. when Nabopolassar, a native of Chaldea, and his successors, Nebuchadnezzar II, Evil-merodach (Awil-Marduk), Neriglissar, Labashi-Marduk, Nabonidus, and Belshazzar, ruled the Third World Power, Babylon.

Does serving Babylon mean exile?

No. Exile was a punishment for nations that refused to serve Babylon. Nations could serve Babylon in their own land. After most of the Jews had been exiled, Jeremiah said the people still in Jerusalem should serve Babylon to avoid exile. Even after Jerusalem was destroyed, Gedaliah told the Jews still in Judea to continue dwelling in their land by serving the king of Babylon. The ‘wild beasts’ were included under Babylonian dominion but were not exiled.

• Jeremiah 27:6–11: And now I have given all these lands into the hand of my servant King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon; even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, when many nations and great kings will make him their slave.’ ⁸ “‘“‘If any nation or kingdom refuses to serve King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon and refuses to put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,’ declares Jehovah, ‘until I have finished them off by his hand.’ ⁹ “‘“‘Therefore, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your magicians, and your sorcerers, who are saying to you: “You will not serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ For they are prophesying lies to you, so that you will be taken far away from your land and I will disperse you and you will perish. ¹¹ “‘“‘But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will allow to remain on its land,’ declares Jehovah, ‘to cultivate it and dwell in it.’”’”
• Jeremiah 27:17: Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and you will keep living. Why should this city become a ruin?
• 2 Kings 25:22, 24: King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon appointed Ged·a·liʹah the son of A·hiʹkam the son of Shaʹphan over the people whom he had left behind in the land of Judah. … ²⁴ Ged·a·liʹah swore an oath to them and their men and said to them: “Do not be afraid of being servants to the Chal·deʹans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
• Jeremiah 40:9, 10: Ged·a·liʹah the son of A·hiʹkam the son of Shaʹphan swore an oath to them and to their men, saying: “Do not be afraid of serving the Chal·deʹans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will stay in Mizʹpah to represent you to the Chal·deʹans who come to us. But you should gather wine, summer fruits, and oil and put them in your storage containers and settle in the cities that you have taken over.”

When was the calamity of Jeremiah 25:29?

In Elul (September) 605 BCE, Jeremiah warned that calamity would soon befall Jerusalem. The calamity for Jerusalem began around January 604 BCE when Nebuchadnezzar came to the city,^* according to Daniel to besiege it.^† Jehoiakim avoided conflict by paying tribute, and continued to do so for three full years, but refused in early 600 BCE (prior to Nisan), leading to the siege in late 598 BCE, Jewish exile in early 597 BCE, and Jerusalem’s eventual destruction in 587 BCE.^‡ Other nations experienced calamity at different times. Despite the rendering in the New World Translation, Jeremiah 25:29 indicates that the calamity for Jerusalem was beginning (the verb chalal, Strong’s H2490^§), not that the calamity would befall Jerusalem first (an adverb, which would be ri’shown, Strong’s H7223) at some future time. Calamity at the hands of Babylon befell Assyria (and to some extent, Egypt) in 609 BCE (629 BCE in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ chronology), several years before the start of Jerusalem’s calamity and more than two decades prior to Jerusalem’s destruction. The Bible never suggests that Babylon’s 70 years begins with Jerusalem’s calamity.
* It is possible Nebuchadnezzar was back in the region as early as October 605 BCE. However, Jehoiakim’s defiant reaction to the scroll read to him in December 605 BCE (Jeremiah 36:21–26) seems more consistent with not yet having been confronted by Nebuchadnezzar, suggesting he subsequently paid tribute around January 604 BCE before Nebuchadnezzar took collective tributes from the Hatti-land back to Babylon in February 604 BCE.
† The ‘siege’ is reported only in Daniel, which was written in the 2^nd century BCE and is not an authority on events in the Neo-Babylonian period. The anonymous author of Daniel may have mistakenly conflated events in early 604 BCE with those of late 598 BCE. See also Misrepresentations by Alex Young.
‡ For verses pertaining to the events in 598–597 BCE and 587 BCE, see the sections Did the Jews equate the beginning of their exile with Jerusalem’s destruction? and When was Jerusalem destroyed?
§ Chalal has additional meanings of to profane or to pierce, which are not relevant to the context of Jeremiah 25:29 and not supportive of adverbial usage.

• Jeremiah 1:14: Then Jehovah said to me: “Out of the north the calamity will break loose Against all the inhabitants of the land.
• Jeremiah 21:10: “‘“For I have set my face against this city for calamity and not for good,” declares Jehovah. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”
• Jeremiah 25:1: The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Je·hoiʹa·kim son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, which was the first year of King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon.
• Jeremiah 25:29: For look! if I am bringing calamity first on the city that bears my name, should you go unpunished?”’ “‘You will not go unpunished, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,’ declares Jehovah of armies.
• Jeremiah 25:29 (NWT, 1984 revision): For, look! it is upon the city upon which my name is called that I am starting off in bringing calamity, and should YOU yourselves in any way go free of punishment?”’ “‘YOU will not go free of punishment, for there is a sword that I am calling against all the inhabitants of the earth,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies.
• Jeremiah 25:29a (KJV): For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished?
• Jeremiah 25:29a (NIV): See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished?
• Jeremiah 25:32: This is what Jehovah of armies says: ‘Look! A calamity is spreading from nation to nation, And a great tempest will be unleashed from the remotest parts of the earth.
• Jeremiah 36:21–22, 24: So the king sent Je·huʹdi out to get the scroll, and he brought it from the chamber of E·lishʹa·ma the secretary. Je·huʹdi began to read it in the hearing of the king and of all the princes standing by the king. ²² The king was sitting in the winter house, in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. … ²⁴ And they felt no dread; neither the king nor all his servants who heard all these words ripped their garments apart.
• 2 Kings 24:1: In Je·hoiʹa·kim’s days King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon came against him, and Je·hoiʹa·kim became his servant for three years. However, he turned against him and rebelled.
• Daniel 1:1: In the third year of the kingship of King Je·hoiʹa·kim of Judah, King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
• Daniel 1:1 (NIV, ESV, NAS): In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
• BM 21946, rows 12–13: In the accession year Nebuchadnezzar went back again to the Hatti-land and until the month of Sebat marched unopposed through the Hatti-land; in the month of Sebat he took the heavy tribute of the Hatti-territory to Babylon.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, p. 205: The Babylonian Chronicle B.M. (British Museum) 21901 recounts the fall of Nineveh … Ashur-uballit was trying to reconquer [Harran] after having been driven out. This record is in harmony with the account relative to the activity of Pharaoh Nechoh recorded at 2 Kings 23:29, which activity resulted in the death of King Josiah of Judah (c. 629 B.C.E.). This text states that “Pharaoh Nechoh the king of Egypt came up to the king of Assyria by the river Euphrates”—evidently to help him. “The king of Assyria” to whom Nechoh came may well have been Ashur-uballit II. Their campaign against Haran did not succeed. The Assyrian Empire had ended.
• Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: H2490—chalal
  Definition: 1. to profane, defile, pollute, desecrate, begin
  • to begin
  • to be begun
• Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: H7223—ri’shown
  Definition: 1. first, primary, former
  • former (of time)
  • foremost (of location)
  • first (in time)
  • first, chief (in degree)

Does Daniel 1:1 refer to the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, or as a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar?

Daniel 1:1 refers to Jehoiakim’s third year as king. The word translated “kingship” (malkûwth, Strong’s H4438) means “reign” and is not a special term implying vassalage.

• Daniel 1:1: In the third year of the kingship of King Je·hoiʹa·kim of Judah, King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
• Daniel 1:1 (KJV, ASV, Darby, ERV): In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
• Daniel 1:1 (NIV, ESV, NAS): In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
• Daniel 1:1 (Webster, WEB, AKJV): In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and besieged it.
• Daniel 1:1 (Douay-Rheims): In the third year of the reign of Joakim king of Juda, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and besieged it.
• Daniel 1:1 (YLT): In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, come hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and layeth siege against it;
• Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: H4438—malkûwth
  Definition: 1. royalty, royal power, reign, kingdom, sovereign power
  • royal power, dominion
  • reign
  • kingdom, realm

Is there a discrepancy between Jeremiah 25:1 and Daniel 1:1 without defining ‘kingship’ as ‘vassalage’?

No. Both verses refer to the same year. Jeremiah considers Jehoiakim’s accession period to be his first regnal year.^* The author of Daniel employed the accession-year system wherein the first regnal year follows the accession period.^† Jeremiah 25:1 is set in Elul (September) 605 BCE, several months prior to the event described at Daniel 1:1. Babylonian chronicles confirm Nebuchadnezzar’s presence in the Hatti-region in Sebat (January/February) 604 BCE (the new year began in Nisan on 2 April), and also state that the Hatti-region included Jerusalem.
* A casual consideration of 2 Kings 23:31 might lead to the conclusion that Jehoiakim began his reign around November 609 BCE (allowing 3 months for Jehoahaz’ reign after Josiah’s death). However, it is possible that Jehoahaz was not made king immediately after Josiah died. More significantly, 2 Kings 23:33–34 indicates that Jehoahaz’ 3-month reign was followed by a period of imprisonment at Riblah—possibly for a few months—prior to being taken to Egypt when Jehoiakim was appointed. Therefore, Jehoiakim’s reign more likely began in 608 BCE. Based on Daniel 1:1, Jehoiakim began his reign in or after Nisan 608 BCE, though it is possible the 2^nd century BCE author of Daniel was simply mistaken. In either case, Jehoiakim’s 1^st year by Jeremiah’s reckoning began in Tishri 609 BCE.
† The historicity of Daniel is disputed. However, the book is written from a Babylonian perspective regardless of authenticity. For more information about the book of Daniel, see Daniel’s dreams and visions.

• Jeremiah 25:1: The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Je·hoiʹa·kim son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, which was the first year of King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon.
• Daniel 1:1: In the third year of the kingship of King Je·hoiʹa·kim of Judah, King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
• 2 Kings 23: 31, 33–34: Je·hoʹa·haz was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Ha·muʹtal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libʹnah. … ³³ Pharʹaoh Neʹchoh imprisoned him at Ribʹlah in the land of Haʹmath, to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and then imposed on the land a fine of 100 silver talents and a gold talent. ³⁴ Furthermore, Pharʹaoh Neʹchoh made Jo·siʹah’s son E·liʹa·kim king in place of his father Jo·siʹah and changed his name to Je·hoiʹa·kim; but he took Je·hoʹa·haz and brought him to Egypt, where he eventually died.
• BM 21946, rows 12–13: In the accession year Nebuchadnezzar went back again to the Hatti-land and until the month of Sebat marched unopposed through the Hatti-land; in the month of Sebat he took the heavy tribute of the Hatti-territory to Babylon.
• The Watchtower, 1 February 1969, p. 88: In harmony with this a cuneiform inscription of the Babylonian Chronicle states: “… the king of Akkad [Nebuchadnezzar] mustered his troops, marched to Hatti-land [Syria-Palestine], and encamped against the city of Judah.

Does the Bible specify a Jewish exile of 70 years?

No. The Bible never mentions a ‘seventy-year exile’. Exile was a punishment for nations that refused to “serve Babylon” during its seventy years. “Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah” was that the Jews would return home after “seventy years are completed for Babylon” (Jeremiah 29:10, New International Version). Jeremiah also said, “nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:11), and then Babylon’s king would be ‘called to account’ (Jeremiah 25:12). The seventy years were fulfilled when “the royalty of Persia began to reign” and Babylon’s king was ‘called to account’ in 539 BCE, but the Jews were in Babylon until 538 BCE. While ‘Darius the Mede’ (Ugbaru in the Nabonidus Chronicle)^* was governor in Babylon (mid to late October of 539 BCE) before Cyrus’ arrival, Daniel discerned that Babylon’s seventy years had ended and that the return of the Jews would follow.
* There is no historical record of ‘Darius the Mede’, but he can be logically identified as the governor in Babylon before the arrival of Cyrus. It is possible that the 2^nd century BCE author of Daniel confused the name with that of other Persian rulers.

• Jeremiah 27:11: “‘“‘But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will allow to remain on its land,’ declares Jehovah, ‘to cultivate it and dwell in it.’”’”
• Jeremiah 29:10: “For this is what Jehovah says, ‘When 70 years at Babylon are fulfilled, I will turn my attention to you, and I will make good my promise by bringing you back to this place.’
• Jeremiah 29:10 (NIV): This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
• Daniel 9:1, 2: In the first year of Da·riʹus the son of A·has·u·eʹrus—a descendant of the Medes who had been made king over the kingdom of the Chal·deʹans— ² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, discerned by the books the number of years mentioned in the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet to fulfill the desolation of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years.
• 2 Chronicles 36:20–21: He carried off captive to Babylon those who escaped the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia began to reign, ²¹ to fulfill Jehovah’s word spoken by Jeremiah, until the land had paid off its sabbaths. All the days it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill 70 years.
• 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 (NIV): He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. ²¹ The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
• Jeremiah 25:11: And all this land will be reduced to ruins and will become an object of horror, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.”’

Did the Jews equate the beginning of their exile with Jerusalem’s destruction?

No. Most of the exiles were taken about eleven years prior to Jerusalem’s destruction. Years of exile were counted from 597 BCE when most of the Jews were exiled to Babylon. The exile that occurred in 587 BCE when Jerusalem was destroyed was neither the largest nor the first exile of Jews to Babylon, nor was it the last (582 BCE).

• Ezekiel 33:21: At length in the 12th year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said: “The city has been struck down!”
• Ezekiel 40:1: In the 25th year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the 14th year after the city had fallen, on that very day the hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he took me to the city.
• 2 Kings 24:14–16: He took into exile all Jerusalem, all the princes, all the mighty warriors, and every craftsman and metalworker—he took 10,000 into exile. No one was left behind except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ Thus he took Je·hoiʹa·chin into exile to Babylon; he also led away the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his court officials, and the foremost men of the land, taking them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took into exile to Babylon all the warriors, 7,000, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalworkers, all of them mighty men and trained for war.
• Jeremiah 52:28–30: These are the people whom Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar took into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews. ²⁹ In the 18th year of Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar, 832 people were taken from Jerusalem. ³⁰ In the 23rd year of Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar, Neb·uʹzar·adʹan the chief of the guard took Jews into exile, 745 people. In all, 4,600 people were taken into exile.

What is the context of Jeremiah 29:10?

In 594 BCE (614 BCE in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ chronology), Jeremiah wrote from Jerusalem to exiles in Babylon, advising them that they would not be released until after Babylon’s seventy years had ended, in response to Hananiah’s claim that the Jews would be released from Babylon in two more years. There would be no reason to tell the Jews who were already in exile that they would be in exile for seventy years starting from an unspecified future event. After the seventy years had ended, the Jews would then repent and then attention would be given to their return to Jerusalem. It would be nonsensical to turn attention to the Jews’ return only after they had already returned.

• Jeremiah 28:1: In that same year, in the beginning of the reign of King Zed·e·kiʹah of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, the prophet Han·a·niʹah the son of Azʹzur from Gibʹe·on said to me in the house of Jehovah in the presence of the priests and all the people:
• The Watchtower, 15 October 1964, p. 638: In the fourth year of King Zedekiah, or in 614 B.C.E., Jeremiah wrote a prophecy setting out in detail the coming fall of Babylon. It was in contrast to the prophecy made by the false prophet Hananiah to nullify the effect of Jeremiah’s prophecy against Jerusalem.
• Jeremiah 28:11: Han·a·niʹah then said in the presence of all the people: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘Just like this I will break the yoke of King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two years.’” And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.
• Jeremiah 29:1,2: These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders among the exiled people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ² after King Jec·o·niʹah, the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and the metalworkers had gone out of Jerusalem.
• Jeremiah 29:10–14: “For this is what Jehovah says, ‘When 70 years at Babylon are fulfilled, I will turn my attention to you, and I will make good my promise by bringing you back to this place.’ ¹¹ “‘For I well know the thoughts that I am thinking toward you,’ declares Jehovah, ‘thoughts of peace, and not of calamity, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² And you will call me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.’ ¹³ “‘You will seek me and find me, for you will search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴ And I will let you find me,’ declares Jehovah. ‘And I will gather your captives and collect you together out of all the nations and places to which I have dispersed you,’ declares Jehovah. ‘And I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to go into exile.’
• Jeremiah 29:10 (NWT, 1984 revision): “For this is what Jehovah has said, ‘In accord with the fulfilling of seventy years at Babylon I shall turn my attention to you people, and I will establish toward you my good word in bringing you back to this place.’
• Most Bible translations support a rendering of “seventy years for Babylon”, including American Standard, Amplified, Basic English, Complete Jewish (“Bavel’s seventy years are over”), Contemporary English (“After Babylonia has been the strongest nation for seventy years”), Darby, English Standard, God’s Word (“Babylon’s 70 years are over”), Good News (“Babylonia’s seventy years are over”), Green’s Literal, Hebrew Names, Holman Christian Standard, Modern King James, New American Standard, New Century (“Babylon will be powerful for seventy years”), New International, New Life, New Revised Standard, Revised Standard, The Message (“Babylon’s seventy years are up”), Today’s New International, Weymouth New International, World English, Young’s Literal (“the fullness of Babylon – seventy years”).
• Daniel 9:2–3: in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, discerned by the books the number of years mentioned in the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet to fulfill the desolation of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years. ³ So I turned my face to Jehovah the true God, entreating him in prayer, along with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

When was Jerusalem destroyed?

Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 BCE,^* after a siege of about thirty months^† that began 10 Teveth (27 January) 589 BCE. The city walls were breached on 9 Tammuz (29 July) 587 BCE. The Babylonian army entered the city and destroyed the temple on 7 Av (25 August)^‡ 587 BCE. Gedaliah was killed during Tishri 587 BCE. Ezekiel learned of Jerusalem’s fall on 5 Teveth (19 January) 586 BCE, during the Jews’ twelfth year of exile.^§
* Nebuchadnezzar’s 19^th year including accession year (2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 25:12), which is his 18^th year excluding accession year (Jeremiah 52:29). Various sources give the year as 586 BCE, usually based on confusion about the different dating systems appearing in those verses. In other cases, the year is given as ‘587/6′ because the Nisan-based year spans parts of both years of the Gregorian calendar, with the fall of Jerusalem occurring in 587 BCE. For more information, see 586 or 587?
† Some sources suggest an 18-month siege; however, the authors of 2 Kings and Jeremiah used Tishri-based dating.
‡ Or 10 Av (28 August) according to Jeremiah 52:12.
§ The exile started in early 597 BCE, so the years of exile were counted from the year that began in Tishri 598 BCE.

• 2 Kings 25:1–10: In the ninth year of Zed·e·kiʹah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem. He camped against it and built a siege wall all around it, ² and the city was under siege until the 11th year of King Zed·e·kiʹah. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ The city wall was broken through, and all the soldiers fled by night through the gate between the double wall near the king’s garden, while the Chal·deʹans were surrounding the city; and the king went by the way of the Arʹa·bah. ⁵ But the Chal·deʹan army pursued the king, and they overtook him in the desert plains of Jerʹi·cho, and all his troops were scattered from his side. ⁶ Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Ribʹlah, and they passed sentence on him. ⁷ They slaughtered Zed·e·kiʹah’s sons before his eyes; then Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar blinded Zed·e·kiʹah’s eyes, bound him with copper fetters, and brought him to Babylon. ⁸ In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, that is, in the 19th year of King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar the king of Babylon, Neb·uʹzar·adʹan the chief of the guard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned down the house of Jehovah, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he also burned down the house of every prominent man. ¹⁰ And the walls surrounding Jerusalem were pulled down by the entire Chal·deʹan army that was with the chief of the guard.
• 2 Kings 25:25: And in the seventh month, Ishʹma·el son of Neth·a·niʹah son of E·lishʹa·ma, who was of the royal line, came with ten other men, and they struck down Ged·a·liʹah and he died, along with the Jews and the Chal·deʹans who were with him in Mizʹpah.
• Ezekiel 33:21: At length in the 12th year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said: “The city has been struck down!”

What would happen when the 70 years ended?

When seventy years ended, Babylon’s king would be ‘called to account’.

• Jeremiah 25:12: “‘But when 70 years have been fulfilled, I will call to account the king of Babylon and that nation for their error,’ declares Jehovah, ‘and I will make the land of the Chal·deʹans a desolate wasteland for all time.

When was Babylon’s king ‘called to account’?

Babylon’s king was ‘called to account’ in 539 BCE.

• Daniel 5:26–30: “This is the interpretation of the words: MEʹNE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. ²⁷ “TEʹKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found lacking. ²⁸ “PEʹRES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.” ²⁹ Then Bel·shazʹzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and placed a gold necklace around his neck; and they heralded concerning him that he was to become the third ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ That very night Bel·shazʹzar the Chal·deʹan king was killed.
• Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy!, chap. 4, pp. 51–52 par. 12: Medo-Persia replaced the Babylonian Empire as dominant world power in 539 B.C.E. At 62 years of age, Darius the Mede became the first ruler of the conquered city of Babylon.

Could ‘calling to account’ apply to the new Medo-Persian king of Babylon after 539 BCE?

No. The Medes were included in the judgement of ‘all the kings’, and the judgement of Sheshach (Babylon) came after. The Persians arose from the rulers of Anshan, which was part of Elam, which was also specifically named.

• Jeremiah 25:11: And all this land will be reduced to ruins and will become an object of horror, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.”’
• Jeremiah 25:15, 25–26: For this is what Jehovah the God of Israel said to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath out of my hand, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. … ²⁵ all the kings of Zimʹri, all the kings of Eʹlam, and all the kings of the Medes; ²⁶ and all the kings of the north near and far, one after the other, and all the other kingdoms of the earth that are on the surface of the ground; and the king of Sheʹshach will drink after them.
• Isaiah 21:2: A harsh vision has been told to me: The treacherous one is acting treacherously, And the destroyer is destroying. Go up, O Eʹlam! Lay siege, O Meʹdi·a! I will put an end to all the sighing she caused.
• Daniel 5:31: And Da·riʹus the Mede received the kingdom; he was about 62 years old.
• The Watchtower, 1 March 1994, p. 21: Sheshach is a symbolic name, a cryptogram, or code, for Babylon.

When did the Jews return from Babylon?

The Jews who responded to Cyrus’ decree to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem arrived in Tishri (17 September – 15 October) of 538 BCE. (Many of the Jews remained in Babylon.) Temple construction began in the second month (Iyyar) of Cyrus’ second regnal year (April/May 537 BCE), and the Jews were “in their cities” in the seventh month (Tishri) of the previous year (538 BCE). It is likely the decree was made around the time of Cyrus’ accession to the throne at the beginning of Nisan (24 March) 538 BCE, allowing six months for the journey. The Bible says elsewhere that the journey can be completed in four months.

Click for animation showing that the available information only supports 538 BCE for the year of the Jews’ return.

• Ezra 3:1: When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were in their cities, they gathered together with one accord in Jerusalem.
• Ezra 3:8: In the second year after they came to the house of the true God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Ze·rubʹba·bel the son of She·alʹti·el, Jeshʹu·a the son of Je·hozʹa·dak and the rest of their brothers, the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come to Jerusalem out of the captivity started the work; they appointed the Levites from 20 years old and up to serve as supervisors over the work of the house of Jehovah.
• Josephus’ Against Apion Book I, chap. 21: These accounts agree with the true histories in our books; for in them it is written that Nebuchadnezzar, in the eighteenth year of his reign, laid our temple desolate, and so it lay in that state of obscurity for fifty years; but that in the second year of the reign of Cyrus its foundations were laid, and it was finished again in the second year of Darius.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, p. 568: Babylonian custom would place Cyrus’ first regnal year as running from Nisan of 538 to Nisan of 537 B.C.E.
• Ezra 7:9: On the first day of the first month, he began the journey from Babylon, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the good hand of his God was upon him.

For how long did the land pay its Sabbaths?

The land rested for forty-nine years, from the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE until the return of Jews to Jerusalem in 538 BCE.

• Leviticus 25:8: “‘You will count off seven sabbath years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven sabbath years will amount to 49 years.
• Leviticus 26:28, 34–35: I will intensify my opposition to you, and I myself will have to chastise you seven times for your sins. … ³⁴ “‘At that time the land will pay off its sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest, as it must repay its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the days it lies desolate it will rest, because it did not rest during your sabbaths when you were dwelling on it.
• 2 Chronicles 36:20–21: He carried off captive to Babylon those who escaped the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia began to reign, ²¹ to fulfill Jehovah’s word spoken by Jeremiah, until the land had paid off its sabbaths. All the days it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill 70 years.
• 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 (NIV): He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. ²¹ The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

Was Egypt made desolate for forty years by Nebuchadnezzar?

No. Neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Babylon are mentioned in the pronouncement at Ezekiel 29:1–16 about Egypt being made desolate for forty years. Verse 17 introduces a separate pronouncement made seventeen years later. There is no evidence that the entire population of Egypt was ever taken into exile, but if it were, it would be more likely to occur during the Persian period while there was no pharaoh in Egypt. However, it is more likely that the ‘forty years’ referred to the reign of Amasis II after he defeated the previous pharaoh, Apries (Hophra). Amasis ruled from 570 BCE until 526 BCE. After Amasis took the throne, Apries stood as a rival, but was finally killed in 567 BCE. The uncontested portion of Amasis’ reign was forty years. The reign of Amasis II was actually prosperous, but as far as Hophra and his lineage were concerned, Egypt was ‘destroyed’. Additionally, the number 40 is frequently used idiomatically in the Bible to mean ‘a long time’. (Even within the context of the biblical narrative, it is possible that the foretold desolation of Egypt did not eventuate, in a similar manner to Jonah’s unfulfilled warning to Nineveh.)

• Ezekiel 29:1, 12–13: In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the 12th day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying: … ¹² I will make the land of Egypt the most desolate of lands, and its cities will be the most desolate of cities for 40 years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.” ¹³ “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: “After 40 years I will gather back the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered;
• Ezekiel 29:17: Now in the 27th year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying:
• Jeremiah 44:30: This is what Jehovah says: “Here I am giving Pharʹaoh Hophʹra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and of those seeking to take his life, just as I gave King Zed·e·kiʹah of Judah into the hand of King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon, who was his enemy and who sought to take his life.”’”
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, p. 1140: Hophra’s troops revolted against him and set up Ahmose II (Amasis) as rival king. Even then, Hophra was so arrogant that he “supposed that not even a god could depose him from his throne.” However, he was taken prisoner and finally was killed by being strangled.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, p. 698: At Ezekiel 29:1–16 a desolation of Egypt is foretold, due to last 40 years. … secular history provides no clear evidence of the prophecy’s fulfillment, … Egypt later supported Babylon against the rising power of Medo-Persia. But by 525 B.C.E., the land was subjugated by Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great, and thereby came under Persian imperial rule.
• The Watchtower, 1 November 1959, p. 667: during the days of Pharaoh Psammetichus III, the Persian King Cambyses of the fourth world power had conquered Egypt and had carried home in triumph the conquered Egyptian gods, “their molten images.”
• Jonah 4:11: Should I not also feel sorry for Ninʹe·veh the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 men who do not even know right from wrong, as well as their many animals?”

In what way was Tyre ‘forgotten’ for 70 years?

Tyre was one of the nations that were subject to Babylon for seventy years. Tyre was a major trading partner of various cities under Assyrian control, particularly Harran, which was conquered by the Babylonians in 609 BCE, putting an end to the Assyrian empire.

• Isaiah 23:15: In that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, the same as the lifetime of one king. At the end of 70 years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of a prostitute:
• Jeremiah 25:11, 22: And all this land will be reduced to ruins and will become an object of horror, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.”’ … ²² all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Siʹdon, and the kings of the island in the sea;
• Jeremiah 27:1–3: In the beginning of the reign of Je·hoiʹa·kim son of Jo·siʹah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah: ² “This is what Jehovah has told me, ‘Make for yourself straps and yoke bars, and put them on your neck. ³ Then send them to the king of Eʹdom, the king of Moʹab, the king of the Amʹmon·ites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Siʹdon by the hand of the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to King Zed·e·kiʹah of Judah.
• Ezekiel 27:23: Haʹran, Canʹneh, Eʹden, the merchants of Sheʹba, Asʹshur, and Chilʹmad traded with you.
• Isaiah’s Prophecy—Light for All Mankind, vol. 1, chap. 19, p. 253: Jehovah, through Jeremiah, includes Tyre among the nations that will be singled out to drink the wine of His rage. He says: “These nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:8–17, 22, 27) True, the island-city of Tyre is not subject to Babylon for a full 70 years, since the Babylonian Empire falls in 539 B.C.E. Evidently, the 70 years represents the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination—when the Babylonian royal dynasty boasts of having lifted its throne even above “the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14:13)

When were Zechariah’s 70 years?

The period of 70 years mentioned in Zechariah is not the same period as Babylon’s 70 years. Although Babylon’s 70 years ended when Babylon was ‘called to account’ in 539 BCE, the period described by Zechariah was ongoing in the 2^nd year of Darius (520 BCE). In that year, Zechariah described a vision in which he heard an angel use an expression of frustration regarding a period of denunciation that was still having an effect on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. In the 9^th month of Darius’ 4^th year (December 518 BCE), Zechariah is asked whether annual fasting should still be observed. In his response, he indicates that the fasts held in the 5^th and 7^th months (August and October) had been observed for 70 years, including the fasts that had been held earlier that year, which places the first year of fasting in 587 BCE.

• Zechariah 1:7–8, 11–12: On the 24th day of the 11th month, that is, the month of Sheʹbat, in the second year of Da·riʹus, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zech·a·riʹah son of Ber·e·chiʹah son of Idʹdo, saying: ⁸ “I saw a vision in the night. There was a man riding on a red horse, and he stood still among the myrtle trees in the ravine; and behind him there were red, reddish-brown, and white horses.” … ¹¹ And they said to the angel of Jehovah who was standing among the myrtle trees: “We have walked about in the earth, and look! the whole earth is quiet and undisturbed.” ¹² So the angel of Jehovah said: “O Jehovah of armies, how long will you withhold your mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with whom you have been indignant these 70 years?”
• Zechariah 1:8 (NIV): During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
• Zechariah 7:1–5: And in the fourth year of King Da·riʹus, the word of Jehovah came to Zech·a·riʹah on the fourth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chisʹlev. ² The people of Bethʹel sent Shar·eʹzer and Reʹgem-melʹech and his men to beg for the favor of Jehovah, ³ saying to the priests of the house of Jehovah of armies and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain from food, as I have done for so many years?” ⁴ The word of Jehovah of armies again came to me, saying: ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and wailed in the fifth month and in the seventh month for 70 years, did you really fast for me?

When were the ‘Gentile Times’?

The “gentile times” or “appointed times of the nations” was a period of “forty-two months” (three-and-a-half years) during which Jerusalem would be “trampled on by the nations”. It refers to the period from the Roman response to the Jewish rebellion in 66 CE, culminating in Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE. The original grammar of Luke 21:24 and the broader context both indicate a period that had not yet started in Jesus’ time. The period is intentionally analogous to the earlier “time of the end” mentioned in Daniel, in reference to the assault on Jerusalem from 168 BCE until 165 BCE, where a previous “disgusting thing that causes desolation” referred to Greek worship imposed by Antiochus IV (the ‘king of the north’).^* The analogy was intended to serve as a signal to flee Jerusalem when a revolt in 66 CE—also sparked by Greek worship—resulted in another military campaign.
* For more information about the overall theme of the book of Daniel, see Daniel’s dreams and visions.

• Luke 21:20–24: “However, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. ²¹ Then let those in Ju·deʹa begin fleeing to the mountains, let those in the midst of her leave, and let those in the countryside not enter into her, ²² because these are days for meting out justice in order that all the things written may be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to the pregnant women and those nursing a baby in those days! For there will be great distress on the land and wrath against this people. ²⁴ And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.
• Revelation 11:2: But as for the courtyard that is outside the temple sanctuary, leave it out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for 42 months.
• Matthew 24:15, 16: “Therefore, when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken about by Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place (let the reader use discernment), ¹⁶ then let those in Ju·deʹa begin fleeing to the mountains.
• Mark 13:14: “However, when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader use discernment), then let those in Ju·deʹa begin fleeing to the mountains.
• Daniel 11:31: And arms will stand up, proceeding from him; and they will profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and remove the constant feature. “And they will put in place the disgusting thing that causes desolation.
• Daniel 11:40, 41a: “In the time of the end the king of the south will engage with him in a pushing, and against him the king of the north will storm with chariots and horsemen and many ships; and he will enter into the lands and sweep through like a flood. ⁴¹ He will also enter into the land of the Decoration, and many lands will be made to stumble.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 2, pp. 44–45: in the year 168 B.C.E., Syrian King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), in his attempt to Hellenize completely the Jews, dedicated Jerusalem’s temple to Zeus (Jupiter) and profaned the altar by an unclean sacrifice. … This led to the Maccabean (or Hasmonaean) revolt. After a three-year struggle, Judas Maccabaeus gained control of the city and temple and rededicated Jehovah’s altar to true worship on the anniversary of its profanation, Chislev 25, 165 B.C.E.
• Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, p. 635: In 66 C.E. pagan Roman armies surrounded “the holy city” Jerusalem, now the center of Jewish revolt against Rome. Thus, the ‘causing of desolation’ by the disgusting thing was imminent, and so this was the final signal for discerning Christians to ‘flee to the mountains.’ (Mt 4:5; 27:53; 24:15, 16; Lu 19:43, 44; 21:20–22) Following their flight, the desolation of the city and nation occurred, Jerusalem being destroyed in the year 70 C.E.
• Josephus’ Wars of the Jews Book 2, chap. 14: at the same time began the war, in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, and the seventeenth of the reign of Agrippa, in the month of Artemisins [April/May]. Now the occasion of this war was by no means proportionable to those heavy calamities which it brought upon us. For the Jews that dwelt at Cesarea had a synagogue near the place, whose owner was a certain Cesarean Greek: … Now on the next day, which was the seventh day of the week, when the Jews were crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain man of Cesarea, of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom upward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds. This thing provoked the Jews to an incurable degree, because their laws were affronted, and the place was polluted. Whereupon the sober and moderate part of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse to their governors again, while the seditious part, and such as were in the fervor of their youth, were vehemently inflamed to fight. … Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem, although they took this matter very ill, yet did they restrain their passion; but Florus acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a flame, and sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and pretended that Caesar wanted them. … Yet was not he made ashamed hereby of his love of money, but was more enraged, and provoked to get still more; and instead of coming to Cesarea, as he ought to have done, and quenching the flame of war, which was beginning thence, and so taking away the occasion of any disturbances, on which account it was that he had received a reward, he marched hastily with an army of horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the arms of the Romans, and might, by his terror, and by his threatenings, bring the city into subjection.

Did Charles Taze Russell make accurate predictions about 1914?

No. Russell claimed that the “time of the end” began in 1799, that Jesus’ presence began in 1874, and that Jesus began ruling in 1878;^* Russell predicted that Armageddon would begin suddenly, in or shortly after October of 1914. World War I began after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on 28 June 1914. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, New Zealand, Russia, Serbia and South Africa were at war prior to October. World War I did not ‘suddenly’ break out in an otherwise peaceful world, but was based on decades of complex tensions across Europe, including the First (1912–1913) and Second (1913) Balkan Wars. Though the Watch Tower Society has published material about many wars, it has not mentioned the Balkan Wars for at least the last ninety years. Instead, it claims that the Yugoslavian conflict in the 1990s began with World War I.^†
* See also What Does the Bible Really Teach… about Jesus’ presence? (PDF).
† For more information about the Watch Tower Society’s dishonest representations about what it said would happen in 1914, see http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/failed-1914-predictions.php.

• Studies in the Scriptures Volume III (Thy Kingdom Come), p. 23: The “Time of the End,” a period of one hundred and fifteen (115) years, from A.D. 1799 to A.D. 1914, is particularly marked in the Scriptures.
• Zion’s Watch Tower, 15 July 1894, p. 226: But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble.
• Studies in the Scriptures Volume III (Thy Kingdom Come), p. 239: Our Lord’s presence as Bridegroom and Reaper was recognized during the first three and a half years, from A. D. 1874 to A. D. 1878. … The year A. D. 1878, … clearly marks the time for the actual assuming of power as King of kings, by our present, spiritual, invisible Lord—the time of his taking to himself his great power to reign, which in the prophecy is closely associated with the resurrection of his faithful, and the beginning of the trouble and wrath upon the nations.
• The Watch Tower, 15 May 1911, p. 146: Our readers know that for some years we have been expecting this Age to close with an awful time of trouble, and we expect it to break out with suddenness and force not long after October, 1914.
• Awake!, 8 November 1994, p. 4: When battles broke out in Yugoslavia in June 1991, it was not surprising that many people remembered the shots fired in Sarajevo in June 1914. … The conflicts are not new. At the very start of this century, the Balkan Peninsula was spoken of as “the restless corner of Europe.” Jugoslavien—Ett land i upplösning says: “It is a question of the disintegration of a union where tension has been growing for a very long time. In actual fact, the conflicts were already there when the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia [Yugoslavia’s former name] was created at the end of World War I.” Some historical background will help us to see how present-day conflicts go back to World War I.
• Wikipedia: List of Wars 1800–1899, List of Wars 1900–1944, Causes of World War I, First Balkan War, Second Balkan War, Timeline of World War I.

Contents

Got a different question about 607 BCE? Leave a comment.

• Who would serve Babylon for 70 years?
• When did Babylon’s 70 years begin?
• Can Jeremiah 27:6 refer to Nebuchadnezzar as king while he was still prince?
• Does serving Babylon mean exile?
• When was the calamity of Jeremiah 25:29?
• Does Daniel 1:1 refer to Jehoiakim’s third year of his reign, or as a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar?
• Is there a discrepancy between Jeremiah 25:1 and Daniel 1:1 without defining ‘kingship’ as ‘vassalage’?
• Does the Bible specify a Jewish exile of 70 years?
• Did the Jews equate the beginning of their exile with Jerusalem’s destruction?
• What is the context of Jeremiah 29:10?
• When was Jerusalem destroyed?
• What would happen when the 70 years ended?
• When was Babylon’s king ‘called to account’?
• Could ‘calling to account’ apply to the new Medo-Persian king of Babylon after 539 BCE?
• When did the Jews return from Babylon?
• For how long did the land pay its Sabbaths?
• Was Egypt made desolate for forty years by Nebuchadnezzar?
• In what way was Tyre ‘forgotten’ for 70 years?
• When were Zechariah’s 70 years?
• When were the ‘Gentile Times’?
• Did Charles Taze Russell make accurate predictions about 1914?

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise stated, are from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Copyright ©2013 Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Awake!, Isaiah’s Prophecy—Light for all Mankind, Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy!, The Watchtower, Insight on the Scriptures Copyright © Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
New International Version Copyright ©2011 Biblica (International Bible Society).

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