In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, fourteen years after the city was struck down, on that very day the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel, and he was brought to the land of Israel in visions of God—establishing the temporal and experiential context of the visionary temple that occupies chapters 40-48. The specific dating (25th year of exile, 10th day of month) emphasizes the precision of the vision and suggests a real temporal experience; the vision is not merely imaginative but temporally situated. The reference to fourteen years after the city's destruction (586 BCE, suggesting 572 BCE as the date of the vision) places the vision in the latter part of exile when a return seemed possible. The hand of the Lord coming upon Ezekiel indicates a new experience of divine empowerment; the vision of restoration that began in chapter 37 now moves into concrete architectural manifestation. The introduction of the temple vision suggests that the restoration of Israel is inseparable from the restoration of the temple; political renewal requires spiritual renewal.

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