The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

378 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
translation most probably influenced the KJV of 1611, which in
turn has influenced several other earlier translations. The point is
that all translations derived from or influenced by the Vulgate, such
as the KJV, are not independent sources.
(D-5) Jeremiah 29:10: The Hebrew preposition le (lamed)
The preposition l e is the most common preposition in the
Hebrew Old Testament. According to a recent count, it occurs
20,725 times, 1352 of which are found in the book of Jeremiah. 107
What does it mean at Jeremiah 29:10? Since the first edition of the
present work was published in 1983, this question has been asked
of dozens of qualified Hebraists around the world. I contacted
some and so did some of my correspondents. Although some of
the Hebraists explained that l e in a few expressions has a local sense
(“in, at”), in most cases it does not, and they unanimously reject
this meaning at Jeremiah 29:10. Some of them are quoted in
chapter 5 above, pp. 213, 214.
Furuli disagrees with their view. He believes that because l e is
used in a local sense in some expressions at a few places it is likely
used in this sense also in Jeremiah 29:10. He argues:
Can it really be used in the local sense “at”? It certainly can, and The
Dictionary of Classical Hebrew lists about 30 examples of this meaning, one
of which is Numbers 11:10, “each man at (le) the entrance of his tent”.
So, in each case when le is used, it is the context that must decide its
meaning. For example, in Jeremiah 51:2 the phrase lebâbel means “to
Babylon”, because the preceding verb is “to send”. But lirûshâlâm [the
letters li at the beginning of the word is a contraction of le+yod] in
Jeremiah 3:17 in the clause, “all the nations will gather in Jerusalem” has
the local meaning “in Jerusalem”, and the same is true with the phrase
lîhûdâ in Jeremiah 40:11 in the clause, “the king of Babylon had left a
remnant in Judah”. (p. 86)
Well and good, but do these examples allow l e bâbel at Jeremiah
29:10 to be translated “in” or “at Babylon”? Is this really a likely
translation? Is it even a possible one? This question was sent to
Professor Ernst Jenni in Basel, Switzerland, who is undoubtedly
the leading authority today on Hebrew prepositions. So far, he has
written three volumes on three of the most common Hebrew
prepositions, b e (beth), ke (kaph), and l e (lamed). In the volume on
107 Ernst Jenni, Die hebräischen Prepositionen. Band 3: Die Präposition Lamed
(Stuttgart, etc.: Verlag Kohlhammer, 2000), p. 17.