"...Thus the seventy years that Jeremiah foretold was a period occupied completely by the desolation of Jerusalem and the land of Judah. They did not include a period of captivity of part of the Jewish nation in Babylonia. Even captivity of some Jews in Babylonia did not begin in the third year of King Jehoiakim, or in 626 B.C. Jehoiakim reigned eleven years, or into the eighth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, which year ran from Nisan 1, 618 B.C., to Adar 29, 617 B.C. Shortly before this eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar ended on Adar 29, 617 B.C., Jehoiakim’s son and successor, Jehoiachin, went out from Jerusalem in self-surrender to Nebuchadnezzar who was besieging the city...

DURING the seventy-year desolation of Jerusalem, or in the year 601-600 B.C., there was born in the Median Empire a man who came to be called Darius the Mede. We take note of his birth at this time, because we are to hear more about him later on.

Among the Jewish exiles in Babylonia under Nebuchadnezzar was the prophet Ezekiel. In 593 B.C., in the twenty-fifth year of his exile, he had his remarkable vision of a new temple of Jehovah and of an adjacent city called Jehovah-shammah, meaning "Jehovah Himself Is There." (Ezekiel 40:1 to 48:35) This vision must have been of great comfort to the repentant Jewish exiles. In the midst of a land of pagan idolatry it strengthened their hope of again worshiping the true God, Jehovah, at his temple.

Two years after the temple vision Ezekiel gave a final prophecy concerning King Nebuchadnezzar. This king of Babylon was still carrying on as the executional servant of Jehovah God and was making the nations drink the symbolic cup of the wine of Jehovah’s rage. For twelve years Nebuchadnezzar had carried on a siege of the commercial city of Tyre. Although he established control over it, he failed to take its vast wealth. But for this executional service against Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar was to be rewarded with the conquest of Egypt with all its wealth for him to plunder. This meant that he would extend the Babylonian Empire over the land of Egypt itself. This he did in the year 588 B.C.—Ezekiel 29:17-20; Jeremiah 44:29, 30.

Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach) as the oldest son succeeded Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon’s throne in 581 B.C. This king, though reportedly wicked, receives mention in the Bible as doing a kindness to the exiled Jewish king whose line of descent was to run down to Joseph the foster father of Jesus Christ. We read: "It came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin the king of Judah, in the twelfth month [Adar], on the twenty-seventh day of the month [in 580 B.C.], Evil-merodach the king of Babylon, in the year of his becoming king, raised up the head of Jehoiachin the king of Judah out of the house of detention; and he began to speak good things with him, and then put his throne higher than the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. And he took off his prison garments; and he ate bread constantly before him all the days of his life. As for his allowance, an allowance was constantly given him from the king, daily as due, all the days of his life." (2 Kings 25:27-30) Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah) had seven sons in Babylonia, including Shealtiel, whose nominal son Zerubbabel became governor of rebuilt Jerusalem.—1 Chronicles 3:17-19; Haggai 1:1; 2:23; Ezra 5:1, 2; Matthew 1:12.

After reigning but two years King Evil-merodach was murdered by his brother-in-law Neriglissar. According to the inscriptions that have been found, this usurper of the throne spent most of his time in building operations and reigned four years. When he died, his son Labashi-Marduk, though not yet of age, succeeded him. He was a vicious boy, and within nine months he had his throat cut by an assassin. Nabonidus, who had served as Governor of Babylon and who had been Nebuchadnezzar’s favorite son-in-law, now took the throne and had a fairly glorious reign till Babylon fell in 539 B.C. He was given to literature, art and religion. He is reported to have been the son of a priestess of the moon at Harran (Haran), which fact had endeared him to Nebuchadnezzar. Says The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 2, page 441:

He was an enthusiastic religionist and antiquarian. He built and rebuilt many temples in the principal cities of his kingdom. Nabonidus’ enthusiasm carried him too far, for he attempted to centralize in Babylon the religion of the kingdom. In doing this he alienated the priesthood, and even aroused their active opposition. For throughout the history of Babylonia each city had its own patron deity, to which its temple was dedicated and its people devoted. The images and shrines of these various divinities were collected to Babylon. This act, with others of similar offense to the priests, paved the way for his downfall before a mightier power.

As regards the religiousness of the Babylonians, G. R. Tabouis says, in Nebuchadnezzar, page 387 (of English translation):

For some reason religious Nabonidus did not choose to rule at Babylon. He set up a second capital for Babylonia at the oasis of Tema in Arabia. He left the control of the capital city Babylon largely to Nitocris his wife and to Belshazzar his son. Since the Babylonians expected those who wielded sovereign power over them to be exemplars in reverencing the gods, Belshazzar as the king’s son responded to the needs of their sanctuaries by making offerings of gold and silver and sacrificial animals. There are six cuneiform texts that have been discovered that run from the fifth year to the thirteenth year of the reign of his father Nabonidus that prove this fact. Belshazzar even paid the Babylonian religious tithe. Hence there is no question that he was interested in the gods of his nation. The cuneiform inscriptions reveal that he was a devotee of the gods, and his care for the upkeep of places of worship in Babylonia is to be looked upon as a proved matter.

In his prophetic dream Daniel saw the succession of earthly world powers from the Babylonian World Power down till the establishment of the kingdom of God. The world powers were pictured as four wild beasts, and Daniel saw the Ancient of Days, the King of the heavens, execute judgment on these world powers. Then Daniel says: "I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin."

This "son of man" was to have associates with him in the Kingdom. Hence, in the interpretation of the dream, Daniel was told that "the holy ones of the Supreme One will receive the kingdom, and they will take possession of the kingdom for time indefinite, even for time indefinite upon times indefinite." Then, after being told of the destruction of the final beastly world power, Daniel was given the further explanation: "And the kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an indefinitely lasting kingdom, and all the rulerships will serve and obey even them."—Daniel 7:2-27.

In Daniel’s dream the first beast, the one like a lion that had the wings of an eagle, pictured the Babylonian Empire, with its dynasty of kings from Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar. The second beast, which was like a bear that was raised up on one side and that was given the command: "Get up, eat much flesh," pictured the Medo-Persian Empire, with its line of rulers from Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian down through Darius III the Persian.

Daniel 8:1 informs us that, "in the third year of the kingship of Belshazzar the king," the prophet Daniel had another prophetic vision. In it a male goat with a conspicuous horn between its eyes came from the west and defeated and trampled down a two-horned ram.

In explanation, this is what the angel Gabriel told Daniel: "The ram that you saw possessing the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia. And the hairy he-goat stands for the king of Greece; and as for the great horn that was between its eyes, it stands for the first king [Alexander the Great]." So, by this vision also God foretold that the Medo-Persian World Power, the Fourth World Power of history, was to fall before the Fifth World Power, the Macedonian or Grecian Empire.—Daniel 8:2-22."

Se si sommano gli anni di regno della dinastia neobabilonese, da Nabucodonosor alla caduta di Babilonia, nel -539 si ha il quadro esatto della durata complessiva del periodo neobabilonese:

Nabucodonosor 43 anni

Evil-Merodac      2 anni

Neriglissarr        4 anni

Labashi-Marduk 9 mesi

Nabonide        17 anni nel 539 a.C.

Per un totale di poco più di 66 anni dal 1° anno di Nabucodonosor al 17 anno di Nabonide (Che le datazioni dell'inizio e della fine di ogni periodo di regno dei re summenzionati riportate nella pubblicazione della Watchtower entro le parentesi [ ] siano errate è provato dalla durata complessiva del periodo neobabilonese e da quella di ogni singolo regno).