(ח) לָכֵ֕ן כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֖ר ה' צְבָא֑וֹת יַ֕עַן אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־שְׁמַעְתֶּ֖ם אֶת־דְּבָרָֽי׃ (ט) הִנְנִ֣י שֹׁלֵ֡חַ וְלָקַחְתִּי֩ אֶת־כׇּל־מִשְׁפְּח֨וֹת צָפ֜וֹן נְאֻם־ה' וְאֶל־נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּ֣ר מֶֽלֶךְ־בָּבֶל֮ עַבְדִּי֒ וַהֲבִ֨אֹתִ֜ים עַל־הָאָ֤רֶץ הַזֹּאת֙ וְעַל־יֹ֣שְׁבֶ֔יהָ וְעַ֛ל כׇּל־הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֖לֶּה סָבִ֑יב וְהַ֣חֲרַמְתִּ֔ים וְשַׂמְתִּים֙ לְשַׁמָּ֣ה וְלִשְׁרֵקָ֔ה וּלְחׇרְב֖וֹת עוֹלָֽם׃ (י) וְהַאֲבַדְתִּ֣י מֵהֶ֗ם ק֤וֹל שָׂשׂוֹן֙ וְק֣וֹל שִׂמְחָ֔ה ק֥וֹל חָתָ֖ן וְק֣וֹל כַּלָּ֑ה ק֥וֹל רֵחַ֖יִם וְא֥וֹר נֵֽר׃ (יא) וְהָֽיְתָה֙ כׇּל־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את לְחׇרְבָּ֖ה לְשַׁמָּ֑ה וְעָ֨בְד֜וּ הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֛לֶּה אֶת־מֶ֥לֶךְ בָּבֶ֖ל שִׁבְעִ֥ים שָׁנָֽה׃ (יב) וְהָיָ֣ה כִמְלֹ֣אות שִׁבְעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֡ה אֶפְקֹ֣ד עַל־מֶֽלֶךְ־בָּבֶל֩ וְעַל־הַגּ֨וֹי הַה֧וּא נְאֻם־ה' אֶת־עֲוֺנָ֖ם וְעַל־אֶ֣רֶץ כַּשְׂדִּ֑ים וְשַׂמְתִּ֥י אֹת֖וֹ לְשִֽׁמְמ֥וֹת עוֹלָֽם׃ (יג) (והבאותי) [וְהֵֽבֵאתִי֙] עַל־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַהִ֔יא אֶת־כׇּל־דְּבָרַ֖י אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּ֣רְתִּי עָלֶ֑יהָ אֵ֤ת כׇּל־הַכָּתוּב֙ בַּסֵּ֣פֶר הַזֶּ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־נִבָּ֥א יִרְמְיָ֖הוּ עַל־כׇּל־הַגּוֹיִֽם׃ (יד) כִּ֣י עָֽבְדוּ־בָ֤ם גַּם־הֵ֙מָּה֙ גּוֹיִ֣ם רַבִּ֔ים וּמְלָכִ֖ים גְּדוֹלִ֑ים וְשִׁלַּמְתִּ֥י לָהֶ֛ם כְּפׇעֳלָ֖ם וּכְמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה יְדֵיהֶֽם׃ {פ}
(1) The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, which was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. [DR: 605 BCE] (2) This is what the prophet Jeremiah said to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
(3) From the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, to this day—these twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me. I have spoken to you persistently, but you would not listen. (4) Moreover, the LORD constantly sent all his servants the prophets to you, but you would not listen or incline your ears to hear (5) when they said, “Turn back, every one, from your evil ways and your wicked acts, that you may remain throughout the ages on the soil which the LORD gave to you and your fathers. (6) Do not follow other gods, to serve them and worship them. Do not vex Me with what your own hands have made, and I will not bring disaster upon you.” (7) But you would not listen to Me—declares the LORD—but vexed Me with what your hands made, to your own hurt.
(8) Assuredly, thus said the LORD of Hosts: Because you would not listen to My words, (9) I am going to send for all the peoples of the north—declares the LORD—and for My servant, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about. I will exterminate them and make them a desolation, an object of hissing—ruins for all time. (10) And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, and the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp. (11) This whole land shall be a desolate ruin.
And those nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (12) When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation and the land of the Chaldeans for their sins—declares the LORD—and I will make it a desolation for all time. (13) And I will bring upon that land all that I have decreed against it, all that is recorded in this book—that which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. (14) For they too shall be enslaved by many nations and great kings; and I will requite them according to their acts and according to their conduct.
2 "70 Years": Relevant Passages Elsewhere in Jeremiah
(5) “It is I who made the earth, and the men and beasts who are on the earth, by My great might and My outstretched arm; and I give it to whomever I deem proper. (6) I herewith deliver all these lands to My servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; I even give him the wild beasts to serve him. (7) All nations shall serve him, his son and his grandson—until the turn of his own land comes, when many nations and great kings shall subjugate him.
(1) This is the text of the letter which the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the priests, the prophets, the rest of the elders of the exile community, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon— (2) after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths had left Jerusalem.
[Note: King Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin, was exiled in 597 BCE. The Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE.]
(10) For thus said the LORD: When Babylon’s seventy years are over, I will take note of you, and I will fulfill to you My promise of favor—to bring you back to this place. (11) For I am mindful of the plans I have made concerning you—declares the LORD—plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a hopeful future. (12) When you call Me, and come and pray to Me, I will give heed to you. (13) You will search for Me and find Me, if only you seek Me wholeheartedly. (14) I will be at hand for you—declares the LORD—and I will restore your fortunes. And I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have banished you—declares the LORD—and I will bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you.
3 What does the number 70 signify in general and in Jer. 25?
(10) The span of our life is seventy years,
or, given the strength, eighty years;
but the best of them-b are trouble and sorrow.
They pass by speedily, and we are in darkness.-c
John Bright, Jeremiah (Anchor Bible; Doubleday, 1965)
Note to Jer. 25:11 (p. 160):
seventy years. This seems to be here no more than a round number (i.e., a normal life=span).
Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Jewish Study Bible: Jeremiah
Note to Jer 25:11 (p. 966:)
Seventy years: This time period stands for subjugation... This hopeful prospect on the fall of Babylonia is transformed into seventy years of exile, of dislocation from the land, before restoration. Such an interpretive-adaptive explanation occurs already in the early Persian period prophecy [Note: that is, after the fall of Babylonia to Cyrus in 538 BCE], where Jeremiah's prophecy was expected to be fulfilled, as the seventy years were counted between destruction and return (538-520 BCE), or between the destruction of the First Temple (587 BCE) and the dedication of the Second (516 BCE...)
DR: In other words, someone who read Jeremiah's words around 605 or 598 BCE would have focused on his message about the fall of Babylonia (anticipated to come in 70 years). Someone who read those words after the fall of Babylonia to Persia in 538 BCE would have anticipated an imminent restoration of Judah (including of the Temple).
Louis Stulman, New Oxford Annotated Bible: Jeremiah
Comment to Jer. 25:1-14, pp. 1112-1113
The sermon is similar to speeches in the Deuteronomistic History (see, for example, 2 Kings 17:13-23); God sends prophets to warn Israel (vv. 4-6), Israel refuses to heed their message (v. 7) and God brings judgment in the form of disaster (vv. 8-14). Recent scholars suggest that the language of sin and judgment serve as a survival mechanism to make the trauma of war manageable. It assures that their suffering is not arbitrary, that God is not capricious, and that they can alter their future.
Seventy years, an expected lifetime. ... Here it is interpreted both literally and metaphorically.
4 70 Years of Destruction as a Trope in the Ancient Near East
The Black Basalt Memorial Stone of Esarhaddon on the Rebuilding of the city of Babylon. (Esarhaddon was king of the Assyrian Empire between 681 and 669 BCE.)
According to Mark Leuchter, now of Temple University, in his “Jeremiah’s 70-Year Prophecy and the ששך | לב קמי Atbash Codes.” Biblica 85, no. 4 (2004): 503–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42614548, this Memorial Stone is a literary parallel to Jeremiah's prophecy of 70 years.
Amin, Osama Shukir Muhammed. "Stone Monument of Esarhaddon." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 31, 2014. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2461/stone-monument-of-esarhaddon/.
Daniel David Luckenbill, PhD, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1927
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/ancient_records_assyria2.pdf
A translation of relevant parts of the inscription follows.
5 Tanach reads Tanach:
Jeremiah's "70 Years" as Understood by Later Biblical Writers
(7) On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius—the month of Shebat—this word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo:
Note: This refers to the January-February of 519 BCE
(12) Thereupon the angel of the LORD exclaimed, “O LORD of Hosts! How long will You withhold pardon from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which You placed under a curse seventy years ago?”
(19) They burned the House of God and tore down the wall of Jerusalem, burned down all its mansions, and consigned all its precious objects to destruction. (20) Those who survived the sword he exiled to Babylon, and they became his and his sons’ servants till the rise of the Persian kingdom, (21) in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, until the land paid back its sabbaths; as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, till seventy years were completed.
(32) I will make the land desolate, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled by it. (33) And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheath the sword against you. Your land shall become a desolation and your cities a ruin. (34) Then shall the land make up for its sabbath years throughout the time that it is desolate and you are in the land of your enemies; then shall the land rest and make up for its sabbath years. (35) Throughout the time that it is desolate, it shall observe the rest that it did not observe in your sabbath years while you were dwelling upon it.
(1) In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— (2) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, consulted the books concerning the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD that had come to Jeremiah the prophet, were to be the term of Jerusalem’s desolation—seventy years.
(כא) וְע֛וֹד אֲנִ֥י מְדַבֵּ֖ר בַּתְּפִלָּ֑ה וְהָאִ֣ישׁ גַּבְרִיאֵ֡ל אֲשֶׁר֩ רָאִ֨יתִי בֶחָז֤וֹן בַּתְּחִלָּה֙ מֻעָ֣ף בִּיעָ֔ף נֹגֵ֣עַ אֵלַ֔י כְּעֵ֖ת מִנְחַת־עָֽרֶב׃ (כב) וַיָּ֖בֶן וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר עִמִּ֑י וַיֹּאמַ֕ר דָּנִיֵּ֕אל עַתָּ֥ה יָצָ֖אתִי לְהַשְׂכִּילְךָ֥ בִינָֽה׃ (כג) בִּתְחִלַּ֨ת תַּחֲנוּנֶ֜יךָ יָצָ֣א דָבָ֗ר וַאֲנִי֙ בָּ֣אתִי לְהַגִּ֔יד כִּ֥י חֲמוּד֖וֹת אָ֑תָּה וּבִין֙ בַּדָּבָ֔ר וְהָבֵ֖ן בַּמַּרְאֶֽה׃ (כד) שָׁבֻעִ֨ים שִׁבְעִ֜ים נֶחְתַּ֥ךְ עַֽל־עַמְּךָ֣ ׀ וְעַל־עִ֣יר קׇדְשֶׁ֗ךָ לְכַלֵּ֨א הַפֶּ֜שַׁע (ולחתם) [וּלְהָתֵ֤ם] (חטאות) [חַטָּאת֙] וּלְכַפֵּ֣ר עָוֺ֔ן וּלְהָבִ֖יא צֶ֣דֶק עֹֽלָמִ֑ים וְלַחְתֹּם֙ חָז֣וֹן וְנָבִ֔יא וְלִמְשֹׁ֖חַ קֹ֥דֶשׁ קׇֽדָשִֽׁים׃
(21) while I was uttering my prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had previously seen in the vision, was sent forth in flight and reached me about the time of the evening offering. (22) He made me understand by speaking to me and saying, “Daniel, I have just come forth to give you understanding. (23) A word went forth as you began your plea, and I have come to tell it, for you are precious; so mark the word and understand the vision. (24) “Seventy weeks [Note: That is, 70 weeks of years, 70x7=490 years.] have been decreed for your people and your holy city until the measure of transgression is filled and that of sin complete, until iniquity is expiated, and eternal righteousness ushered in; and prophetic vision ratified, and the Holy of Holies anointed.
Lawrence M. Wills, The Jewish Study Bible: Daniel, p. 1654, comment to 9:24
Holy of Holies anointed, finally accomplished by Judas Maccabee in 164 BCE (I Maccabees 4:26-59), shortly after the final editing of Daniel.
6. 70 Years: Which Years? - Does it Matter?
Dalit Rom-Shiloni, The Jewish Study Bible Jeremiah
The seventy years run roughly from 605 to 539 BCE, when the Persians conquered Babylonia. (comment to 25:11, p. 966)
John Bright, Anchor Bible: Jeremiah
Note to 25:11 (p. 160). In Zechariah 1:12 it seems to refer to the interval between the destruction of the temple in 587 and its rebuilding in 520-515. In II Chronicles 36:20-23 it is made to refer to the period between 587 and Cyrus' edict in 538 (appreciably less than seventy years).
Note to 29:10 (p. 208). 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 prophecy after the fact]; we can only record the fact that the prediction turned out to be approximately correct (which may be why later writings 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 [539] was sixty-six years.
The Seventy Years could start in:
- 612 BCE. The fall of Nineveh to the Neo-Babylonian Empire
- 605. The accession of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia
- 597. The exile of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) of Judah
- 586. The destruction of the First Temple
The "Seventy Years" could end in
- 539/538 BCE Fall of Babylon
- 520. Beginning of rebuilding of Temple (Zechariah)
- 516. Dedication of the Second Temple
- 164. (!? 'Seventy Weeks of Years') Rededication of Temple by Judah Maccabee (Daniel 9)
What do Jeremiah's "70 years" mean for us?