I agreed yesterday to engage in the '607' topic. I've read numerous threads and am well aware that this topic has been addressed and dissected quite thoroughly. Therefore, if you are uninterested in participating, that's fine. I only mention this since I'd like to keep this thread (unlike the many other 607 threads) clean cut, concise, and clear since this subject can easily become quite complicated and extend into various constituents that can be difficult to follow for onlookers.
Premise 1:Jeremiah 25:12, says "And it must occur that when seventy years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘their error, even against the land of the Chal·de´ans, and I will make it desolate wastes to time indefinite."
Premise 2:When was the king of Babylon called into account? Daniel 9:26-28 says, "ME´NE, God has numbered [the days of] your kingdom and has finished it. TE´KEL, you have been weighed in the balances and have been found deficient. PE´RES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians."
Premise 3: Regarding Jeremiah 29:10,other modern translations, like the ESV, says, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place."
Professor Ernst Jenni, a Hebrew scholar says, "The rendering in all modern commentaries and translations is “for Babel” (Babel as world power, not city or land); this is clear from the language as well as also from the context. By the “local meaning” a distinction is to be made between where? (in, at) and where to? (local directional “to, towards”). The basic meaning of l is with reference to, and with a following local specification it can be understood as local or local-directionalonly in certain adverbial expressions (e.g. Num. 11, 10 [Clines DCH IV, 481b] “at the entrance”, cf. Lamed pp. 256, 260, heading 8151)."
Conclusion: So the ending point of the 70 years is 539 BCE.
539 BCE - 70 years = 609 BCE
What happened in 609 BCE? "The Babylonians defeat the Assyrian army of Ashur-uballit II and capture Harran. Ashur-uballit, the last Assyrian king, disappears from history." So logically the 70 year period that Jeremiah foretells is the period of Babylon's Dominance of the region and the lands roundabout, from the time Assyria's last stronghold was captured, until Babylon fell to Cyrus.
Response to Premise 1: The premise seems to insinuate that the servitude ended in 539 B.C.E. and uses this as a basis for adding the seventy years and arriving at 609 BCE when Babylon defeated Assyria. But 539 BCE cannot possibly be the end of the 70-year servitude. A czar's death does not signify the end of servitude to those under that administration's yoke. Admittedly, scholars hold in general consensus that the Jews did not leave Babylon in 539 B.C.E. Therefore, their servitude, included in the nations aforementioned in Jeremiah 25, had not yet ended at the supposed ending point of 539 B.C.E. Cyrus had not yet changed Babylonian policy when he ascended the Babylonian throne. They continued as exiled servants until Cyrus issued his decree at Ezra 1:1, permitting the Jews to hark back to Jerusalem. This decree was issued, not in Cyrus' ascension year but in his first regnal year. Ezra says "in the first year of the King of Persia", and not "his first year becoming king". Jewish historian Flavius Josephus corroborates this by referencing this as "the first year of the reign of Cyrus" - Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter XI, Chapter I. Many secular sources further corroborate this statement, for example:
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume 4, Page 748 states: "Already in his first regnal year (538 B.C.) Cyrus issued a decree by which exiled Jews were allowed to return to their homeland."
The Handbook of Bible Chronology, page 170 states: "The biblical references to the first year of Cyrus when he made the proclamation which allowed the Jewish exiles to return from Babylon to Jerusalem are presumably stated in terms of his reign in Babylon since they deal with an event in that city. His Babylonian regnal years began. . . .accordingly in his first year, in which he made the proclamation, 538/537 B.C."
The Catholic Encyclopedia states: "In October, 538 B.C., Babylon opened its gates to the Persian army, and a few weeks later the great conqueror of Babylonia, Cyrus, made his triumphal entry into the fallen city. One of the official acts of the new ruler in Babylon was to give to the exiled Jews full liberty to return to Judah.."
Jeremiah 27:6, 7 state: "And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Neb·u·chad·nez′zar the king of Babylon, my servant; and even the wild beasts of the field I have given him to serve him. 7 And all the nations must serve even him and his son and his grandson until the time even of his own land comes, and many nations and great kings must exploit him as a servant.’ Undoubtedly, if the servitude began with Nabopolassar, there would have been no need for Jehovah to "give these lands" into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. 'These lands' would have been an inheritance for Nebuchadnezzar at his ascension to the Babylonian throne. The nations must serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson but the father, who would be the *pivotal* starting point of this all-important 70 year prophecy is not mentioned, nor is there any scriptural basis to assume the servitude commenced with his rule. This again, clearly, shows that the 70 year-servitude could not have begun in 609 BCE, and therefore could not have ended in 539 B.C.E.
(END OF RESPONSE TO PREMISE 1)