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God appears to Abram.

A. M. 2107. B. C. 1897.

CHAP. XVII.

B. C. 1897.

His name changed to Abraham AND when Abram was ninety 3 And Abram fell on his face: A. M. 2107. years old and nine, the LORD and God talked with him, saying, appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I 4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with am the Almighty God, walk before me, and thee, and thou shalt be a father of many be thou a perfect.

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I am the Amighty God] ' ' ' ani El shaddai, I am God all-sufficient; from shadah, to shed, to pour out. I am that God who pours out blessings, ⚫who gives them richly, abundantly, continually. hithhallech lephanai, set thyself to walk-be firmly purposed, thoroughly determined to obey, before me; for my eye is ever on thee, therefore ever consider that God seeth thee. Who can imagine a stronger incitement to conscientious, persevering obedience?

Be thou perfect.] vehyeh thamim, and thou shalt be perfections, i. e., altogether perfect. Be just such as the holy God would have thee to be, as the almighty God can make thee; and live as the allsufficient God shall support thee; for he alone who makes the soul holy can preserve it in holiness. Our blessed Lord appears to have had these words pointedly in view, Matt. v. 48: Eoeole vμɛis тeheii, wσñeρ ὁ Πατηρ ύμων ὁ εν τοις ουρανοις τελειος εστι· Ye SHALL BE perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. But what does this imply? Why, to be saved from all the power, the guilt, and the contamination of sin. This is only the negative part of salvation, but it has also a positive part; to be made perfect-to be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is perfect, to be filled with the fulness of God, to have Christ dwelling continually in the heart by faith, and to be rooted and grounded in love. This is the state in which man was created, for he was made in the image and likeness of God. This is the state from which man fell, for he broke the command of God. And this is the state into which every human soul must be raised, who would dwell with God in glory; for Christ was incarnated and died to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. What a glorious privilege! And who can doubt the possibility of its attainment, who believes in the omnipotent love of God, the infinite merit of the blood of atonement, and the all-pervading and all-purifying energy of the Holy Ghost? How many miserable souls employ that time to dispute and cavil against the possibility of being saved from their sins, which they should devote to praying and believing that they might be saved out of the hands of their enemies! But some may say, "You overstrain the meaning of the term; it signifies only, be sincere; for as perfect obedience is impossible, God accepts of sincere obedience." If by sincerity the objection means good desires, and

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generally good purposes, with an impure heart and spotted life, then I assert that no such thing is implied in the text, nor in the original word; but if the word sincerity be taken in its proper and literal sense, I have no objection to it. Sincere is compounded of sine cera, "without wax;" and, applied to moral subjects, is a metaphor taken from clarified honey, from which every atom of the comb or wax is separated. Then let it be proclaimed from heaven, Walk before me, and be SINCERE! purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump unto God; and thus ye shall be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. This is sincerity. Reader, remember that the blood

of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Ten thousand quibbles on insulated texts can never lessen, much less destroy, the merit and efficacy of the great Atonement.

Verse 3. And Abram fell on his face] The eastern method of prostration was thus: the person first went down on his knees, and then lowered his head to his knees, and touched the earth with his forehead. A very painful posture, but significative of great humiliation and reverence.

Verse 5. Thy name shall be Abraham] Ab-ram literally signifies a high or exalted father. Ab-ra-ham D differs from the preceding only in one letter; it has he before the last radical. Though this may appear very simple and easy, yet the true etymology and meaning of the word are very difficult to be assigned. The reason given for the change made in the patriarch's name is this: For a father of many nations have I made thee, Drà fin an ab-hamongoyim, “a father of a multitude of nations.” This has led some to suppose that DN18 Abraham, is a contraction for 11. ab-rab-hamon, “the father of a great multitude."

Aben Ezra says the name is derived from 17 abir-hamon, "a powerful multitude."

Rabbi Solomon Jarchi defines the name cabalistically, and says that its numeral letters amount to two hundred and forty-eight, which, says he, is the exact number of the bones in the human body. But before the he was added, which stands for five, it was five short of this perfection.

Rabbi Lipman says then he being added as the fourth letter, signifies that the Messiah should come in the fourth millenary of the world.

Clarius and others think that the he, which is one of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, (or word of four letters, YeHoVaH,) was added for the sake of dignity, God associating the patriarch more nearly

God renews his promise.

B. C. 1897.

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B. C. 1897.

A. M. 2107. m for a father of many nations have seed after thee, the land wherein A. M. 2107. I made thee. "thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession and I will be their God.

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6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make "nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

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8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy circumcised.

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Having enumerated so many opinions, that of William Alabaster, in his Apparatus to the Revelation, should not be passed by. He most wisely says that ab-ram or ab-rom signifiés father of the Romans, and consequently the pope; therefore Abraham was pope the first! This is just as likely as some of the preceding etymologies.

From all these learned as well as puerile conjectures we may see the extreme difficulty of ascertaining the true meaning of the word, though the concordance makers, and proper name explainers find no difficulty at all in the case; and pronounce on it as readily and authoritatively as if they had been in the Divine council when it was first imposed.

a

Hottinger, in his Smegma Orientale, supposes the word to be derived from the Arabic root rahama, which signifies to be very numerous. Hence ab raham would signify a copious father or father of multitude. This makes a very good sense, and agrees well with the context. Either this etymology or that which supposes the inserted he to be an abbreviation of the word n hamon, multitude, is the most likely to be the true one. But this last would require the word to be written, when full, jin 28 ab-ram-hamon. The same difficulty occurs, verse 15, on the word Sarai, which signifies my prince or princess, and Sarah, where the whole change is made by the substitution of a he for a yod. This latter might be translated princess in general; and while the former seems to point out her government in her own family alone, the latter appears to indicate her government over the nations of which her husband is termed the father or lord; and hence the promise states that she shall be a mother of nations, and that kings of people should spring from her. See ver. 15, 16.

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Psa. cv. 9, 11. Heb. of thy sojournings.- "Chap. xxiii. 4; xxviii. 4.- - Exod. vi. 7; Lev. xxvi. 12; Deut. iv. 37; xiv. 2; xxvi. 18; xxix. 13.— Acts vii. 8.

From the difficulty of settling the etymology of these two names, on which so much stress seems to be laid in the text, the reader will see with what eaution he should receive the lists of explanations of the proper names in the Old and New Testaments, which he so frequently meets with, and which I can pronounce to be in general false or absurd.

Verse 7. An everlasting covenant] ▷ n'a berith olam. See on chap. xiii. 15. Here the word olam is taken in its own proper meaning, as the words immediately following prove to be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee; for as the soul is to endure for ever, so it shall eternally stand in need of the supporting power and energy of God; and as the reign of the Gospel dispensation shall be as long as sun and mool endure, and its consequences eternal, so must the covenant be on which these are founded.

Verse 8. Everlasting possession] Here Dy olam appears to be used in its accommodated meaning, and signifies the completion of the Divine counsel in reference to a particular period or dispensation. And it is literally true that the Israelites possessed the land of Canaan till the Mosaic dispensation was terminated in the complete introduction of that of the Gospel. But as the spiritual and temporal covenants are both blended together, and the former was pointed out and typified by the latter, hence the word even here may be taken in its own proper meaning, that of ever-during, or eternal; because the spiritual blessings pointed out by the temporal covenant shall have no end. it is immediately added, I will be their time, certainly, but for ever and ever. on chap. xxi. 33.

And hence

God, not for a
See the notes

Verse 10. Every man-child-shall be circumcised.] Those who wish to invalidate the evidence of the Divine origin of the Mosaic law, roundly assert that the Israelites received the rite of circumcision from the Now as the only change in each name is made by Egyptians. Their apostle in this business is Herothe insertion of a single letter, and that letter the same dotus, who, lib. ii., p. 116, Edit. Steph. 1592, says: in both names, I cannot help concluding that some "The Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians, are the mystery was designed by its insertion; and therefore the only nations in the world who have used circumcision opinion of Clarius and some others is not to be disre- an apxnr, from the remotest period; and the Phœnigarded, which supposes that God shows he had confer-cians and Syrians who inhabit Palestine acknowledge red a peculiar dignity on both, by adding to their names they received this from the Egyptians." Herodotus One of the letters of his own; a name by which his cannot mean Jews by Phoenicians and Syrians; if he eternal power and Godhead are peculiarly pointed out. does he is incorrect, for no Jew ever did or ever could

God commands all the

A. M. 2107. B. C. 1897.

CHAP. XVII.

11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

12. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man-child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14 And the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that

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acknowledge this, with the history of Abraham in his hand. If Herodotus had written before the days of Abraham, or at least before the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt, and informed us that circumcision had been practised among them an' apxns, from the beginning, there would then exist a possibility that the Israelites, while sojourning among them had learned and adopted this rite. But when we know that Herodotus flourished only 484 years before the Christian era, and that Jacob and his family sojourned in Egypt more than 1800 years before Christ, and that all the descendants of Abraham most conscientiously observed circumcision, and do so to this day, then the presumption is that the Egyptians received it from the Israelites, but that it was impossible the latter could have received it from the former, as they had practised it so long before their ancestors had sojourned in Egypt.

Verse 11. And it shall be a token] s leoth, for a sign of spiritual things; for the circumcision made in the flesh was designed to signify the purification of the heart from all unrighteousness, as God particularly showed in the law itself. See Deut. x. 16; see also Rom. ii. 25-29; Col. ii. 11. And it was a seal of that righteousness or justification that comes by faith, Rom. iv. 11. That some of the Jews had a just notion of its spiritual intention, is plain from many passages in the Chaldee paraphrases and in the Jewish writers. I borrow one passage from the book Zohar, quoted by Ainsworth: "At what time a man is sealed with this holy seal, (of circumcision,) thenceforth he seeth the holy blessed God properly, and the holy soul is united to him. If he be not worthy, and keepeth not this sign, what is written? By the breath of God they perish, (Jab iv. 9,) because this seal of the holy blessed God was not kept. But if he be worthy, and keep it, the Holy Ghost is not separated from him."

Verse 12. He that is eight days old] Because previously to this they were considered unclean, Lev. xii. 2, 3, and circumcision was ever understood as a consecration of the person to God. Neither calf, lamb, VOL. I. (9)

males to be circumcised.

B. C. 1897.

soul shall be cut off from his A. M. 2107. people; he hath broken my covenant.

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and d she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Chap. xviii. 10.4 Heb. she shall become nations. Le Ch. xxxv. 11; Gal. iv. 31; 1 Pet. iii. 6. Chap. xviii. 12; xxi. 6.

nor kid, was offered to God till it was eight days old for the same reason, Lev. xxii. 27.

Verse 13. He that is born in thy house] The son of a servant; he that is bought with thy money—a slave on his coming into the family. According to the Jewish writers the father was to circumcise his son; and the master, the servant born in his house, or the slave bought with money. If the father or master neglected to do this, then the magistrates were obliged to see it performed; if the neglect of this ordinance was unknown to the magistrates, then the person himself, when he came of age, was obliged to do it.

Verse 14. The uncircumcised-shall be cut off from his people] By being cut off some have imagined that a sudden temporal death was implied; but the simple meaning seems to be that such should have no right to nor share in the blessings of the covenant, which we have already seen were both of a temporal and spiritual kind; and if so, then eternal death was implied, for it. was impossible for a person who had not received the spiritual purification to enter into eternal glory. The spirit of this law extends to all ages, dispensations, and people; he whose heart is not purified from sin cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Reader, on what is thy hope of heaven founded?

Verse 15. Thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah] See on ver. 5.

Verse 16. I will bless her, &c.] Sarah certainly stands at the head of all the women of the Old Testament, on account of her extraordinary privileges. I am quite of Calmet's opinion that Sarah was a type of the blessed Virgin. St. Paul considers her a type of the New Testament and heavenly Jerusalem; and as all true believers are considered as the children of Abraham, so all faithful holy women are considered the daughters of Sarah, Gal. iv. 22, 24, 26. also 1 Pet. iii. 6.

See

Verse 17. Then Abraham-laughed] I am astonished to find learned and pious men considering this as a token of Abraham's weakness of faith or unbelief, when they have the most positive assurance from

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Prosperity of Ishmael foretold.

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thee!

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18 And Abraham said unto God, | 21 But my covenant will I esta- A. M.2107.
O that Ishmael might live before blish with Isaac, which Sarah
shall bear unto thee at this set time in the
next year.

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and h will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

hChap. xvi. 10. Chapter xxi. 2.

Chap. xviii. 10; xxi. 2; Gal. iv. 28. Chap. xxv. 12–16.- Chap. xxi. 18.the Spirit of God himself that Abraham was not weak but strong in the faith; that he staggered not at the promise through unbelief, but gave glory to God, Rom. iv. 19, 20. It is true the same word is used, chap. xviii. 12, concerning Sarah, in whom it was certainly a sign of doubtfulness, though mixed with pleasure at the thought of the possibility of her becoming a mother; but we know how possible it is to express both faith and unbelief in the same way, and even pleasure and disdain have been expressed by a smile or laugh. By laughing Abraham undoubtedly expressed his joy at the prospect of the fulfilment of so glorious a promise; and from this very circumstance Isaac had his name. pry' yitschak, which we change into Isaac, signifies laughter; and it is the same word which is used in the verse before us: Abraham fell on his face, pris vaiyitschak, and he laughed and to the joy which he felt on this occasion our Lord evidently alludes, John viii. 56: Your father Abraham REJOICED to see my day; and he saw it, and was GLAD. And to commemorate this joy he called his son's name Isaac.

See the note on chap. xxi. 6.

Verse 18. O that Ishmael might live before thee!] Abraham, finding that the covenant was to be established in another branch of his family, felt solicitous for his son Ishmael, whom he considered as necessarily excluded; on which God delivers that most remarkable prophecy which follows in the 20th verse, and which contains an answer to the prayer and wish of Abraham And as for Ishmael I have heard thee; so that the object of Abraham's prayer was, that his son Ishmael might be the head of a prosperous and potent people.

Verse 20. Twelve princes shall he beget, &c.] See the names of these twelve princes, chap. xxv. 12-16. From Ishmael proceeded the various tribes of the Arabs, called also Saracens by Christian writers. They were anciently, and still continue to be, a very numerous and powerful people. "It was somewhat wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity," says Bishop Newton, "that a man's whole posterity should so nearly resemble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, and the same customs, throughout all ages! These are the only people besides the Jews who have subsisted as a distinct people

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22 And he left off talking with him, and m God went up from Abraham.

23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto

him.

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mChap. xviii. 33; xxxv. 13. Chap. xxxiv. 24; Josh. v. 2–9 ; Acts xvi. 3; Rom. ii. 25-29; iv. 9–12; Gal$v. 6; vi. 15.

from the beginning, and in some respects they very much resemble each other. 1. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from the father of the faithful. 2. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are circumcised, and both profess to have derived this ceremony from Abraham. 3. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, had originally twelve patriarchs, who were their princes or governors. 4. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, marry among themselves, and in their own tribes. 5. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages of the exactness of the Divine predictions, and of the veracity of Scripture history. We may with more confidence believe the particulars related of Abraham and Ishmael when we see them verified in their posterity at this day. This is having, as it were, ocular demonstration for our faith." See Bp. Newton's Second Dissertation on the Prophecies, and see the notes on chap. xvi. 12.

Verse 21. My covenant will I establish with Isaac] All temporal good things are promised to Ishmael and his posterity, but the establishment of the Lord's covenant is to be with. Isaac. Hence it is fully evident that this covenant referred chiefly to spiritual things— to the Messiah, and the salvation which should be brought to both Jews and Gentiles by his incarnation, death, and glorification.

Verse 22. God went up from Abraham.] Ascended evidently before him, so that he had the fullest proof that it was no human being, no earthly angel or messenger, that talked with him; and the promise of a son in the course of a single year, at this set time in the next year, ver. 21, which had every human probability against it, was to be the sure token of the truth of all that had hitherto taken place, and the proof that all that was farther promised should be fulfilled in its due time. Was it not in nearly the same way in which the Lord went up from Abraham, that Jesus Christ ascended to heaven in the presence of his disciples? Luke xxiv. 51.

Verse 23. And Abraham took Ishmael, &c.] Had not Abraham, his son, (who was of age to judge for himself,) and all the family, been fully convinced that this thing was of God, they could not have submitted ( 9* )

Abraham and his household are

CHAP. XVII.

circumcised on the same day.

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0

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A. M. 2107. 24 And Abraham was ninety years 26 In the selfsame day was Abra- A. M.2107. old and nine, when he was cir-ham circumcised, and Ishmael his cumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

son.

25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years 27 And all the men of his house, born in old when he was circumcised in the flesh of the house, and bought with money of the his foreskin. stranger, were circumcised with him.

• See ver. 1, 17; Rom. iv. 19.

to it. A rite so painful, so repugnant to every feeling of delicacy, and every way revolting to nature, could never have sprung up in the imagination of man. To this day the Jews practise it as a Divine ordinance; and all the Arabians do the same. As a distinction between them and other people it never could have been designed, because it was a sign that was never to appear. The individual alone knew that he bore in his flesh this sign of the covenant, and he bore it by the order of God, and he knew it was a sign and seal of spiritual blessings, and not the blessings themselves, though a proof that these blessings were promised, and that he had a right to them. Those who did not consider it in this spiritual reference are by the apostle denominated the concision, Phil. iii. 2, i. e., persons whose flesh was cut, but whose hearts were not purified.

P Chap. xviii. 19.

in any part of its essential meaning. Faith in God through the great sacrifice, remission of sins, and sanctification of the heart, are required by the new covenant as well as by the old.

3. The rite of circumcision was painful and humi liating, to denote that repentance, self-denial, &c., are absolutely necessary to all who wish for redemption in the blood of the covenant; and the putting away this filth of the flesh showed the necessity of a pure heart and a holy life.

4. As eternal life is the free gift of God, he has a right to give it in what way he pleases, and on what terms. He says to Abraham and his seed, Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and he that doth not so shall be cut off from his people. He says also to sinners in general, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Repent, and

THE Contents of this chapter may be summed up in believe the Gospel; and, Except ye repent, ye shall a few propositions :

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1. God, in renewing his covenant with Abram, makes an important change in his and Sarai's name; a change which should ever act as a help to their faith, that the promises by which God had bound himself should be punctually fulfilled. However difficult it may be for us to ascertain the precise import of the change then made, we may rest assured that it was perfectly understood by both; and that, as they had received this name from God, they considered it as placing them in a new relation both to their Maker and to their posterity. From what we have already seen, the change made in Abram's name is inscrutable to us; there is something like this in Rev. ii. 17: To him that overcometh will I give a white stone, and a NEW NAME which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. The full import of the change made in a soul that enters into covenant with God through Christ, is only known to itself; a stranger intermeddleth not with its joy. Hence, even men of learning and the world at large have considered experimental religion as enthusiasm, merely because they have not understood its nature, and have permitted themselves to be carried away by prejudices which they have imbibed perhaps at first through the means of ignorant or hypocritical pretenders to deep piety; but while they have the sacred writings before them, their prejudices and opposition to that without which they cannot be saved are as unprincipled as they are

absurd.

2. God gives Abraham a precept, which should be observed, not only by himself, but by all his posterity; for this was to be a permanent sign of that covenant which was to endure for ever. Though the sign is now changed from circumcision to baptism, each of them equally significant, yet the covenant is not changed

perish. These are the terms on which he will bestow the blessings of the old and new covenants. And let it be remembered that stretching out the hand to receive an alms can never be considered as meriting the bounty received, neither can repentance or faith merit salvation, although they are the conditions on which it is bestowed.

5. The precepts given under both covenants were accompanied with a promise of the Messiah. God well knows that no religious rite can be properly observed, and no precept obeyed, unless he impart strength from on high; and he teaches us that that strength must ever come through the promised seed. Hence, with the utmost propriety, we ask every blessing through him, in whom God is well pleased:

6. The precept, the promise, and the rite, were pre faced with, "I am God all-sufficient; walk before me, and be thou perfect." God, who is the sole object of religious worship, has the sole authority, to prescribe that worship, and the rites and ceremonies which shall be used in it; hence he prescribed circumcision and sacrifices under the old law, and baptism and the eucharist under the Gospel; and to render both effectual to the end of their institution,, faith in God was indispensably necessary.

7. Those who profess to believe in him must not live as they list, but as he pleases. Though redeemed from the curse of the law, and from the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish Church, they are under the law to Christ, and must walk before him-be in all things obedient to that moral law which is an emanation from the righteousness of God, and of eternal obligation; and let it ever be remembered that Christ is "the author of eternal salvation to all that obey him." Without faith and obedience there can be no holiness, and without holiness none can see the Lord. Be all that

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