Question:
Answer:
In answering your question, we will employ the Revised Standard Catholic Edition (RSVCE), given its precision in translating from the original languages. The RSVCE is used for scriptural passages presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), and it renders the verses in Baruch 6 slightly different than the New American Bible (NAB), which is used to proclaim the Word of God at Masses. Here is how the RCVCE renders the scriptural passages in question:
Jeremiah 25:11—This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jeremiah 29:10—For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
Baruch 6:2-3—Because of the sins which you have committed before God, you will be taken to Babylon as captives by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians.Therefore when you have come to Babylon you will remain there for many years, for a long time, up to seven generations; after that I will bring you away from there in peace.
First, we can see that Baruch says up to seven generations, showing that he is making an approximation, not an exact prediction. The Catholic Douay Rheims American Edition (DRA) renders the passage similarly, “And when you are come into Babylon, you shall be there many years, and for a long time, even to seven generations: and after that I will bring you away from thence with peace” (Baruch 6:2; emphasis added).
In addition, even if one were to translate the passage without the words “up to” or “even to,” as the NAB does, the seven generations in Baruch 6 can be understood symbolically, again, as an approximation, and thus consistent with Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10. St. Peter similarly employs symbolic language in saying, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).