The two 2011 Watchtower articles remain the organisation’s fullest published defence of 607 BCE; later publications assert the date and cite those articles rather than restating the evidence.
Claim ID claim-chronology-2011-is-standing-defenceConcerns 1 November 2011Context
19 September 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The “seven times” began in October 607 B.C.E., when, according to Bible chronology, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians.”
The page sets out the same chain as the 2005 appendix and closes: “Applying the prophetic rule ‘a day for a year,’ the 2,520 days represent 2,520 years. Therefore, the ‘seven times,’ or 2,520 years, would end in October 1914.” Its footnote a refers readers to “When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part One,” pages 26-31 of the 1 October 2011 Watchtower, and Part Two, pages 22-28 of the 1 November 2011 issue.
Provenance and verification note for JW.org (Bible Questions Answered), What Does Bible Chronology Indicate About the Year 1914?
Confidence note. Live page fetched from jw.org on 19 September 2026 (HTTP 200) and read in full; wording confirmed. The date recorded is the access date because the page carries no publication date. The identical text appears on the Watchtower Online Library at the second URL, which the library cites as “ijwbq article 75” — an article number in the web-only compilation Bible Questions Answered, not a printed page number.
Notes. The current, public statement of the teaching. It still routes the reader to the 2011 articles for the 607 BCE date, which remain the organisation’s standing defence.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-chr-o-jw-ijwbq-1914
2005 · pp.215-218 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The 2,520 years began in October 607 B.C.E., when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and the Davidic king was taken off his throne. The period ended in October 1914. At that time, “the appointed times of the nations” ended, and Jesus Christ was installed as God’s heavenly King.”
The appendix to the organisation’s principal Bible-study textbook of 2005-2015 sets out the chain in five steps: Luke 21:24; Jerusalem as a symbol of Jehovah’s rulership; Daniel 4’s felled tree; 1,260 days x 2 = 2,520 days from Revelation 12:6, 14; and the day-for-a-year rule from Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6. A footnote adds the arithmetic (606 + 1,914 = 2,520, there being no zero year) and refers readers to the article “Chronology” in Insight on the Scriptures.
Provenance and verification note for What Does the Bible Really Teach?, Appendix: 1914—A Significant Year in Bible Prophecy
Confidence note. Full document fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quotation, the paragraph and the page were confirmed against the article text and its embedded page markers (span class=“pageNum”).
1 October 2014 · pp.10-13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The truth is, Daniel didn’t understand because it was not yet God’s time for humans to discern completely the meaning of the prophecies in the book of Daniel. But now, in our time, we can understand them more fully.”
A scripted door-to-door conversation in which the householder objects that the Bible never mentions 1914. The answer given appeals to Daniel 12:9 (“The words are to be kept secret and sealed up until the time of the end”). Part 2, in the issue of 1 November 2014, completes the calculation: “If we apply the rule of a day for a year, the seven times would amount to 2,520 years. Counting forward from 607 B.C.E., 2,520 years takes us to the year 1914.”
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, A Conversation With a Neighbor: When Did God’s Kingdom Begin Ruling?—Part 1
Confidence note. Full document fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quotation, the paragraph and the page were confirmed against the article text and its embedded page markers (span class=“pageNum”).
1 November 2014 · pp.8-11 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“If we apply the rule of a day for a year, the seven times would amount to 2,520 years. Counting forward from 607 B.C.E., 2,520 years takes us to the year 1914.”
The paragraph opens: “Sometimes in Bible prophecy, a day symbolizes a year.” The second half of the scripted conversation. It argues that the “seven times” cannot be seven literal years because “seven literal years would take us to the year 600 B.C.E. But nothing significant happened in that year with regard to God’s rulership.”
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, A Conversation With a Neighbor: When Did God’s Kingdom Begin Ruling?—Part 2
Confidence note. Full document fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quotation, the paragraph and the page were confirmed against the article text and its embedded page markers (span class=“pageNum”). The article runs to page 11 (“w14 11/1 pp. 8-11” in the library’s own citation line); the sentence quoted here is on page 9.
31 December 2024 · p.128 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The “seven times” represent a period of 2,520 years. That time period began in 607 B.C.E. when the Babylonians removed the last king from Jehovah’s throne in Jerusalem. It ended in 1914 C.E. when Jehovah enthroned Jesus—“the one who has the legal right”—as King of God’s Kingdom.”
The daily text for the last day of 2024, drawn from The Watchtower of July 2022, page 3, paragraphs 3-5. The comment adds: “Knowing about the ‘seven times’ reassures us that Jehovah fulfills his promises right on time.”
Provenance and verification note for Examining the Scriptures Daily—2024, Tuesday, December 31
Confidence note. Full document fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the quotation, the paragraph and the page were confirmed against the article text and its embedded page markers (span class=“pageNum”).
Notes. Evidence that the teaching is current, not historic: it is set for daily study in a 2024 publication and sourced to a 2022 Watchtower study article.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-chr-o-es-2024-1231-seven-times
A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-chronology-2011-is-standing-defence/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.