7.
“And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah xxv, 11).
It is now conceded by all critics that the book of Jeremiah, as a whole, was not composed before the Captivity. But even if these words were uttered before the Captivity, they are fatal to the claim of Bible inerrancy; for either the prophecy was not fulfilled, or Bible history is false. According to the historical books of the Bible, the Captivity did not last seventy, but only about fifty years.
Referring to this and similar prophecies, Matthew Arnold says: “The great prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah are, critics can now see, not strictly predictions at all” (Literature and Dogma, p, 114).