Carchemish and Nebuchadnezzar’s accession
Jeremiah 25:1; 46:1–2 · KJV
Jeremiah places Egypt’s defeat at Carchemish in Jehoiakim’s fourth year and identifies that year as Nebuchadrezzar’s first year.
Original Timeline · special year-by-year timeline
The Babylonian Captivity
From Babylon’s rise to Cyrus’s return
| Creation yearTishriSept./Oct. | BCDec./Jan. | Nisan yearNisanMarch/April | From Babylon accession | Jehoiachin captivity year | After city fell | Ruler / empire | Event and KJV Scripture |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3318 | 605/604 | 872 | Accession | Nebuchadnezzar | Daniel and companions are carried to Babylon · working placementDaniel 1:1–7; 2 Chronicles 36:6–7 · KJVDaniel records Nebuchadnezzar coming against Jerusalem in Jehoiakim’s third year; Chronicles records Jehoiakim being bound and temple vessels carried to Babylon. The difference between accession-year and regnal-year wording remains visible. | ||
| 3319 | 604/603 | 873 | 1 | Nebuchadnezzar | Jeremiah announces the seventy yearsJeremiah 25:3–12 · KJVJudah and the surrounding nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years; when the years are accomplished, Babylon will be punished. Jeremiah’s scroll is writtenJeremiah 36:1–4 · KJVIn Jehoiakim’s fourth year Jeremiah dictates to Baruch the words given from the days of Josiah onward. | ||
| 3320 | 603/602 | 874 | 2 | Nebuchadnezzar | The scroll is read and burnedJeremiah 36:9–32 · KJVIn Jehoiakim’s fifth year the scroll is read publicly, cut with a penknife, and burned; Jeremiah dictates another roll with additional words. | ||
| 3321 | 602/601 | 875 | 3 | Nebuchadnezzar | |||
| 3322 | 601/600 | 876 | 4 | Nebuchadnezzar | |||
| 3323 | 600/599 | 877 | 5 | Nebuchadnezzar | Jehoiakim serves Babylon and rebels2 Kings 24:1–4 · KJVJehoiakim becomes Nebuchadnezzar’s servant three years, then turns and rebels. The established Original Timeline places the service marker here. | ||
| 3324 | 599/598 | 878 | 6 | Nebuchadnezzar | |||
| 3325 | 598/597 | 879 | 7 | Nebuchadnezzar | |||
| 3326 | 597/596 | 880 | 8 | Begins in Adar | Nebuchadnezzar | Jehoiachin and Jerusalem’s leaders are deported2 Kings 24:8–17; 2 Chronicles 36:9–10; Jeremiah 24:1 · KJVAfter a three-month reign Jehoiachin, his household, officers, craftsmen, and treasures are carried to Babylon. This removal begins Ezekiel’s captivity-year count. Zedekiah is installed2 Kings 24:17–20; 2 Chronicles 36:10–13 · KJVNebuchadnezzar makes Mattaniah king and changes his name to Zedekiah; he reigns eleven years and later rebels. Jeremiah writes to the captivesJeremiah 29:1–14 · KJVThe captives are told to build, plant, marry, and seek Babylon’s peace. After seventy years at Babylon the LORD promises to visit and bring them back. | |
| 3327 | 596/595 | 881 | 9 | 2 | Nebuchadnezzar | ||
| 3328 | 595/594 | 882 | 10 | 3 | Nebuchadnezzar | ||
| 3329 | 594/593 | 883 | 11 | 4 | Nebuchadnezzar | ||
| 3330 | 593/592 | 884 | 12 | 5 | Nebuchadnezzar | Ezekiel’s opening vision by ChebarEzekiel 1:1–3 · KJVThe fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity, fourth month, fifth day opens Ezekiel’s dated ministry. | |
| 3331 | 592/591 | 885 | 13 | 6 | Nebuchadnezzar | Ezekiel sees Jerusalem’s abominationsEzekiel 8:1–18 · KJVThe vision is dated to the sixth captivity year, sixth month, fifth day. | |
| 3332 | 591/590 | 886 | 14 | 7 | Nebuchadnezzar | The elders inquire of the LORDEzekiel 20:1–3 · KJVCertain elders sit before Ezekiel in the seventh year, fifth month, tenth day. | |
| 3333 | 590/589 | 887 | 15 | 8 | Nebuchadnezzar | ||
| 3334 | 589/588 | 888 | 16 | 9 | Nebuchadnezzar | ||
| 3335 | 588/587 | 889 | 17 | 10 | Nebuchadnezzar | The final siege begins2 Kings 25:1–2; Jeremiah 39:1; 52:4; Ezekiel 24:1–2 · KJVZedekiah’s ninth year, tenth month, tenth day is identified by Ezekiel as the very day Babylon sets itself against Jerusalem. | |
| 3336 | 587/586 | 890 | 18 | 11 | City falls | Nebuchadnezzar | Ezekiel’s dated words concerning EgyptEzekiel 29:1; 30:20; 31:1 · KJVThe tenth-year tenth-month word and the eleventh-year first- and third-month words fall around Jerusalem’s last months. Jerusalem is breached and the temple burned2 Kings 25:2–10; Jeremiah 39:2–8; 52:5–14; 2 Chronicles 36:17–21 · KJVIn Zedekiah’s eleventh year the city is broken up. The temple, king’s house, and Jerusalem are burned; the walls are broken down and survivors are carried away. NOTE: Why the eighteenth and nineteenth years both appearJeremiah 52:29; 2 Kings 25:8–9; Jeremiah 52:12–13 · KJVJeremiah 52:29 records 832 persons carried away from Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year. The Temple burning is expressly dated to his nineteenth year in 2 Kings 25:8–9 and Jeremiah 52:12–13. The references mark related stages of Jerusalem’s fall across the regnal-year boundary; the timeline therefore preserves both numbers rather than forcing them into one date. Zedekiah is captured2 Kings 25:4–7; Jeremiah 39:4–7; 52:7–11 · KJVZedekiah flees, is taken in the plains of Jericho, sees his sons slain, is blinded, bound, and carried to Babylon. The land begins its desolate sabbaths2 Chronicles 36:20–21; Jeremiah 25:11–12 · KJVChronicles connects the land’s sabbaths and threescore and ten years with Judah’s service until Persia; Jeremiah connects seventy years of national service with Babylon’s judgment. |
This page does not recalculate or move the Original Timeline. It retains CY 3318 for Carchemish and Nebuchadnezzar’s accession, CY 3326 for Jehoiachin’s captivity, CY 3336 for Jerusalem’s fall, CY 3384 for Babylon’s fall, and CY 3385 for Cyrus’s return decree.
Jeremiah’s seventy years concern service to Babylon and Babylon’s punishment. Chronicles’ sabbath statement concerns the desolate land. Ezekiel’s captivity years begin with Jehoiachin’s removal. They overlap, but the table does not turn them into one interchangeable counter. Partial accession years, Nisan years, and Creation years also do not begin on the same day.
Within the captivity period · exact year not supplied
Important accounts preserved without inventing a date
The fiery furnace
Daniel 3. Nebuchadnezzar’s image, the refusal to worship, and the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego belong to his reign, but the chapter does not state a regnal year.
Nebuchadnezzar’s tree dream
Daniel 4. The dream, seven times, humbling, and restoration are recorded without a numbered Babylonian year.
Jeremiah’s prophecies against Babylon
Jeremiah 50–51. Babylon’s judgment and Israel’s return are proclaimed, but the prophecy is not assigned a new Creation year merely from chapter order.
Daniel in the lions’ den
Daniel 6. The account belongs under Darius the Median after Babylon’s fall; the narrative does not supply a separate year number.