Jeremiah 25:11 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy-years. — This is the first mention of the duration of the captivity. The seventy years are commonly reckoned from B.C. 606, the date of the deportation of Jehoiakim and his princes, to B.C. 536, when the decree for the return of the exiles was issued by Cyrus. In 2 Chronicles 36:21 the number is connected with the land “enjoying her Sabbaths,” as though the long desolation came as a retribution for the people’s neglect of the law of the Sabbatical year, and, perhaps, also for their non-observance of the weekly Sabbaths. (Isaiah 56:4; Jeremiah 17:21-22.) For the apportionment of the reigns of the Babylonian kings that made up the seventy years, see the Chronological Table in the Introduction. Symbolically the number, as the multiple of seven and ten, represents the highest measure of completeness (comp. Matthew 18:22).