The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

376 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
have noticed that Harkavy states in the preface that the English
text is that of the Authorized Version, that is, the KJV. George
Lamsa’s translation has been strongly criticized because of its heavy
dependence on the KJV. Also in Jeremiah, chapter 29, he almost
slavishly follows KJV. His “at Babylon,” therefore, means nothing.
I have not been able to check Helen Spurrell’s translation. It was
published in London in 1885, not 1985, as Furuli’s Bibliography
erroneously shows, so it is not a modem translation.
The Swedish Church Bible of 1917 has recently been “replaced”
by two new translations, Bibel-2000 and Folkbibeln (1998). Both
have “for Babylon” at Jeremiah 29:10. In answer to my questions,
the translators of both translations emphasized that l e bâbel at
Jeremiah 29:10 means “for Babylon” not “at” or “in” Babylon.
Remarkably, even the new revised Swedish edition of the NWT has
changed the earlier “in Babylon” (Swedish “i Babylon”) in the 1992
edition to “for Babylon” (Swedish: “för Babylon”) in the 2003
edition. (See above, p. 211, ftn. 26)
Because the rendering “for Babylon” contradicts the theory that
the 70 years refer to the period of Jerusalem’s desolation, Furuli
needs to defend the notably infrequent rendering “at” or “in”
Babylon. He even claims that the preposition “for” gives the 70
years “a fuzzy meaning:”
If “for” is chosen, the result is fuzziness, because the number 70
then loses all specific meaning. There is no particular event marking
their beginning nor their end, and the focus is wrong as well, because it
is on Babylon rather than on the Jews. (p. 86)
This is an incredible statement and another example of Furuli’s
special pleading. It is difficult to believe that Furuli is totally
ignorant of the fact that both the beginning and the end of
Babylon’s supremacy in the Near East were marked by
revolutionary events — the beginning by the final crushing of the
Assyrian empire and the end by the fall of Babylon itself in 539
BCE. Surely he must know that, according to secular chronology,
exactly 70 years passed between these two events. Modern
authorities on the history of this period agree that the definite end
of Assyria occurred in 610/609 BCE. In the box on page 234 of
chapter 5 above, for example, four leading scholars are quoted to
this effect: viz. Professor John Bright and three leading
Assyriologists, Donald J. Wiseman, M. A. Dandamaev, and Stefan
Zawadski. It would be easy to multiply the number. Another
example is Professor Klas R.Veenhof. He describes how the last