In connection with the translation of Jer. 25:11 you should consult the major technical commentaries on Jeremiah and read what Rolf Furuli has written on the grammar of this text.
Let’s not beat around the bush. You know that in my previous posts I recommended Carl Jonsson’s book. You, then, should know I’ve read Furuli’s arguments, and COJ’s counter arguments that he regularly places on his site.
You both employ the same logical fallacy of taking exceptions and elevating them to the rule.
Yes one must read the context of this chapter and you will notice that in vs.1 and vs.9 which shows that the target is Judah and not Babylon.
Verse 1-9 are just intro verses. They don’t, in any way, limit the scope of the seventy years to Judah alone. Jeremiah is a Jewish prophet, prophesying to Judah, but the content of the prophesy speaks for itself.
From 25:11 :
- Judah will be desolate.
- These nations will serve the Babylon seventy years.
What nations? The ones listed, starting in verse 19. Verse 17 again says Jerusalem itself, and the cities of Judah, will become “ruin”, a “horror”, a “hissing and a curse”, and the states “as it is this day” - meaning the servitude has already begun.
The whole of chapter 27 is about the nations submitting to Babylon.
The historical accounts in the Bible concerning Judah provide data that allows one to construct a clear chronology for Judah but such is not the case for the other nations.
This makes no sense. The Bible alone can’t provide a clear chronology. You have to anchor it with external sources. Those are well documented in COJ’s book.
Jer. 25:11 simply states that Judah along with the other nations would serve Babylon for a period of 70 years
Yes correct. As vassals.... unless they rebelled. In the case of rebellion, they would be destroyed and forced to submit. Guess which option the Jews chose. But that choice was made 20 years into the servitude of “these nations”.
...and scholar has always said that the 70 years was a period of desolation of Judah,
No. It doesn’t matter what you have always said.
...an Exile of the Jews to Babylon and a period of servitude to Babylon beginning with the Fall in 607 BCE until the Return in 537 BCE.
No. 25:18 “as it is this day” - the servitude was ongoing during the time of chapter 25.
But that is what Jeremiah explicitly states that it was only after the 70 years had been fulfilled or ended that a Judgement against Babylon would come into effect.
I have it exactly what Jeremiah states in vs.12/
That’s right. 70 years ended, then Babylon is held to account. 539 was the holding Babylon to account... so the seventy years was over by 539. It can not be 537 as the WT claims.