electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), fragment VAT.4956, “Astronomical diary for year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar II, obverse line 3”
“Night of the 9th (error for: 8th), beginning of the night, the moon stood 1 cubit in front of the hind leg of the Lion (= β Virginis).”
This is the line on which the Watch Tower's 2011 argument turns. The published edition prints the tablet's '9th' and marks it as a scribal error for the 8th; the editors do not silently alter the text.
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Provenance and verification note for electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), fragment VAT.4956, Astronomical diary for year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar II, obverse line 3
Confidence note. Read in the eBL API record downloaded on 19 September 2026. The transliteration shows the number as written and the English translation carries the editorial note “(error for: 8th)”, exactly as the Watchtower of 1 November 2011 describes. The star name is printed by the editors as “β Virginis” and is reproduced here unchanged.
Scan provenance. electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen. The edition reproduced there is that of Sachs and Hunger, digitised by Reinhard Pirngruber for the Astronomical Diaries Digital project (Austrian Academy of Sciences), CC BY-SA 3.0.
Corroborated by. src-chr-e-w11-1101-vat4956-box
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chr-e-ebl-vat4956-line3