Barnabazus

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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Barnabazus

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Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews — Book XI — 6.4.
Some time after, two eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh plotted against the King, Barnabazus, the servant of one of the eunuchs, being by birth a Jew, was acquainted with their conspiracy, and discovered it to the Queen’s uncle. And Mordecai, by the means of Esther, made the conspirators known to the King. This troubled the King: but he discovered the truth, and hanged the eunuchs upon a cross.

Χρόνῳ δ᾽ ὕστερον ἐπιβουλευσάντων τῷ βασιλεῖ Βαγαθώου καὶ Θεοδοσίτου Βαρνάβαζος τῶν εὐνούχων οἰκέτης τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ γένος ὢν Ἰουδαῖος συνεὶς τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τῷ θείῳ κατεμήνυσε τῆς γυναικὸς τοῦ βασιλέως, Μαρδοχαῖος δὲ διὰ τῆς Ἐσθήρας φανεροὺς ἐποίησε τῷ βασιλεῖ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... barnabazus

MSS (Esther 2-21)
In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus, And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name, And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
LXX
Now when Mordecai, who had seen this dream, and what God had determined to do, was awake, he kept this dream in mind, and until night by all means desired to understand it. 2:1 And Mordecai took his rest in the court with Gabatha and Tharra, the two eunuchs of the king, and keepers of the palace. 2:2 And he heard their plan, and searched out their purposes, and learned that they were about to lay hands upon Ahasuerus the king; and so he testified to the king about them. 2:3 Then the king examined the two eunuchs, and after they had confessed, they were strangled. 2:4 And the king made a record of these things, and Mordecai also wrote thereof. 2:5 So the king commanded, Mordecai to serve in the court, and for this he rewarded him. 2:6 However, Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, was in great honor with the king, and sought to injure Mordecai and his people because of the two eunuchs of the king.
Where did Josephus get βαρναβαζος (Barnabazos) from, He is not mentioned anywhere in Esther, according too
Esther 6:2 "it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king" Did Josephus have access to these lost chronicles?.

βαρναβαζος is identical too Βαρναβᾶς (Act 4:43) interpreted "Son of Consolation", in reality, the word is Greek
from the adjective, Παραμυθητός "consolable". (Παραμυθητός > βαρναβαζος > Βαρναβᾶς) synonym of נחום [Nahum] and Nehemiah [נחמיה]. Barnabazos = Nehemiah?

Nehemiah 1:1
Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah, I was in Shushan the palace. [שושן הבירה]

Esther 1:2
Shushan the palace [Σούσοις τῇ πόλει. שושן הבירה]

בירה is βρία, the Thracian word for πόλις
Image
a small town of the Mesembriani. Then comes the Haemus Mountain, which reaches the sea here;11 then Mesembria, a colony of the Megarians, formerly called “Menebria” (that is, “city of Menas,” because the name of its founder was Menas, while “bria” is the word for “city” in the Thracian language. In this way, also, the city of Selys is called Selybria12 and Aenus13 was once called Poltyobria
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... t=bri%2Fas
πόλις
Image
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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The presence of Thracian words is evidence in Ancient Persian history.
The three ethnicities (Saka, Macedonian, Thracian) enrolled in the Achaemenid army, as shown in the Imperial tomb reliefs of Naqsh-e Rostam, and participated on the Achaemenid side to the Second Persian invasion of Greece. Only did the final defeat of the Achaemenids in the campaign free them from Persian control in 479 BC.
In the first decade of the sixth century BC, the Persians conquered Thrace and made it part of their satrapy Skudra. Thracians were forced to join the invasions of European Scythia and Greece.[15] According to Herodotus, the Bithynian Thracians also had to contribute a large contingent to Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC
Antiquities of the Jews - 11.159
Now there was one of those Jews that had been carried captive who was cup-bearer to king Xerxes; his name was Nehemiah.

How did Nehemiah become cup-bearer to Xerxes?

Esther 2:21 describes the two eunuchs as ἀρχισωματοφύλαξ "chief-bodyguards".

Aristotle Politics 5.1311b
Artapanes (Captain of Xerxes' body-guard) killed Xerxes fearing the charge about Darius, because he had hanged him when Xerxes had ordered him not to but he had thought that he would forgive him because he would forget, as he had been at dinner. And other attacks on monarchs have been on account of contempt
According to Aristotle, Artabanus was responsible for the death of Crown Prince Darius. He then became afraid that Xerxes would seek revenge and proceeded to assassinate the King. On the other hand, Junianus Justinus reported that Artabanus had personal ambitions for the throne. He first secretly murdered Xerxes and then accused Darius of parricide, resulting in his execution. The order of events remains uncertain but Xerxes and Darius certainly left the throne vacant
Mordecai appears in Nehemiah 7:7 called Mordechai Bilshan [ מרדכי בלשן - Μαρδοχαιος Βαλσαν]
and this is the same name in Isaiah 39:1.

Isaiah 39:1 - Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon [מרדך בלאדן]
2 Kings 20:12 - Berodachbaladan [בראדך בלאדן] [Μαρωδαχβαλαδαν].

It is also plausible that the Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1 is Artaxerxes, so named in Josephus.

Antiquities of the Jews - 11.1841
AFTER the death of Xerxes, the kingdom came to be transferred to his son Cyrus, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes.
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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Isaiah is Ctesias [Κτησίας], a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria who served under Artaxerxes II.
Ctesias was the author of treatises on rivers, and on the Persian revenues, of an account of India entitled Indica (Ἰνδικά), and of a history of Assyria and Persia in 23 books, called Persica (Περσικά), written in opposition to Herodotus in the Ionic dialect,and professedly founded on the Persian Royal Archives.

He was the son of Ctesiarchus or Ctesiochus, from Cnidus. As a physician, he cared - in Persia - for [king] Artaxerxes II Mnemon, who had ordered him to come. He composed a History of the Persians in twenty-four books.

It is certain that Ctesias came to Persia as a prisoner of war,
Isaiah 38:21 - Isaiah the physician
For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
https://www.livius.org/articles/person/ ... of-cnidus/
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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Isaiah 1:1
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hosea 1:1
The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Micah 1:1
The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

1. Identical openings
2. Outlived four generations

This is very similar too Daniel, who magically outlived kings, such as Nebuchadnezzar, the real historical one reigned 43, Daniel 2:1 - second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. No mention of Nabonidus.

Daniel also a duplicate of Joseph
Pharaoh called upon 'Magicians'(chartom חַרְטֹם) who could not interpret.(Gen 41:8)
Nebuchadnezzar II called upon ' Magicians' (chartom חַרְטֹם)) who could not interpret(Dan 2:2)

Joseph summoned to interpret the Dream (Gen 41:15)
Daniel summoned to interpret the Dream (Dan 2:26)

Joseph is made ruler of Egypt (Gen 41:43)
Daniel made ruler of Babylon (Dan 2:48)
Daniel 2:48
Then the king made Daniel [דניאל] a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. [מדינת בבל]

The word ruler, והשלטה is short for βασιλέᾶ, Babylon became a province under the Persian Empire hence anachronism, perhaps it meant Daniel was appointed Satrap of the Persian province of Babylon.

Daniel [דניאל] would then be Merodach baladan [מרדך בלאדן] or Mordechai Bilshan [מרדכי בלשן]

בל is ἥλιος (אל, יאל)
Cretan and Doric: ἀβέλιος, abelios
Laconian: βέλα, bela
Aeolic: ἀέλιος

*בלא-דן אלא-דן דן-בלא דן-אלא

דן
1. δίκη, δίκᾶ (דין) "custom, order, right"
- אדן. ἠίθεος or ἔνδικον (צדק)
- Ζῆν, Δάν, Τάν "Zeus"
- Sun is/of righteousness"

Malach 1:4 - My name shall the Sun of righteousness [שמש צדקה] (ἀέλιος δίκᾶς).
*Spartans pronounce δ as σδ hence צד in צדקה (δίκᾶς). (צדיקה)
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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The function of the Persian cup-bearer is detailed in Xenophon, Cyropaedia. (4th century BCE)
Such was the education that Cyrus received until he was twelve years old or a little more; and he showed himself superior to all the other boys of his age both in mastering his tasks quickly and in doing everything in a thorough and manly fashion.

“But,” said Astyages, “are you not going to3 give any to Sacas, my cupbearer, whom I like best of all?” Now Sacas, it seems, chanced to be a handsome fellow who had the office of introducing to Astyages those who had business with him and of keeping out those whom he thought it not expedient to admit.

And Cyrus asked pertly, as a boy might do who was not yet at all shy, “Pray, grandfather, why do you like this fellow so much?”

And Astyages replied with a jest: “Do you not see,” said he, “how nicely and gracefully he pours the wine?” Now the cupbearers of those kings perform their office with fine airs; they pour in the wine with neatness and then present the goblet, conveying it with three fingers, and offer it in such a way as to place it most conveniently in the grasp of the one who is to drink. [9]

“Well, grandfather,” said he, “bid Sacas give me the cup, that I also may deftly pour for you to drink and thus win your favour, if I can.”

And he bade him give it. And Cyrus took the cup and rinsed it out well, exactly as he had often seen Sacas do, and then he brought and presented the goblet to his grandfather, assuming an expression somehow so grave and important, that he made his mother and Astyages laugh heartily. And Cyrus himself also with a laugh sprang up into his grandfather's lap and kissing him said: “Ah, Sacas, you are done for; I shall turn you out of your office; for in other ways,” said he, “I shall play the cupbearer better than you and besides I shall not drink up the wine myself.”

Now, it is a well known fact that the king's cupbearers, when they proffer the cup, draw off some of it with the ladle, pour it into their left hand, and swallow it down—so that, if they should put poison in, they may not profit by it. [10]
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... =cupbearer

This mentions a cup-beater known as SAKA [Σάκα] and Cyrus emulating a cup-bearer at the age of twelve (Luke 2:41).

Σάκα (Saka)
For the Achaemenids, there were three types of Scythians: the Sakā tayai paradraya ("beyond the sea", presumably between the Greeks and the Thracians on the Western side of the Black Sea), the Sakā tigraxaudā (“with pointed caps”), the Sakā haumavargā ("Hauma drinkers", furthest East). Soldiers of the Achaemenid army, Xerxes I tomb detail, circa 480 BCE
Scythian cup-bearers are mentions in Herodotus
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... =cupbearer

In the Iliad, Ganymedes was the cup-bearer of Zeus, a divine hero whose homeland was Troy (Asia-Minor), the son of Tros of Dardania. Zeus later put Ganymede in the sky as the constellation Aquarius ( the "water-carrier" or "cup-carrier"), which is associated with that of the Eagle (Aquila) (Hb. עיט, Gk. αἰετός, ἀετός)
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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They where multiple Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar III ruled over Babylon (c. 522 BCE)
*Darius claimed that he was an impostor called Nidinta-Bel

Nebuchadnezzar IV also known as Arakha was a self-proclaimed King of Babylon. (c. 520 BCE
*Arakha was an Armenian who was the son of Haldita

The word Haldita resembles Chaldea, perhaps it meant "Son of a Chaldean" and why is the word synonomous
with astrologer or priest.

Daniel 2:10 - magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.

Ḫaldi is an Armenian sun god, his symbol was the Lion, perhaps related too ἥλιος or ἡλιοειδῆ , perhaps the Chaldean dynasty of Babylon was Armenian else why would an Armenian claim to be the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ḫaldi
The first local inhabitants, the Chalybes, were counted among the earliest ironsmith nations by Classical writers.[4] Indeed, the Greek name for steel is chalybas (Greek: χάλυβας), possibly deriving from them.[5] The first Greek colony was that of Trapezus, founded by Greek traders from Miletus, traditionally dated to 756 BC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabzon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalybes
The Chalybes (Greek: Χάλυβες, Χάλυβοι) or Chaldoi (Greek: Χάλδοι) were a people mentioned by Classical authors as living in Pontus and Cappadocia in northern Anatolia during Classical Antiquity. Their territory was known as Chaldia.

The Chaldoi/Chalybes, Mossynoikoi, and Tubal/Tabal/Tibareni, are counted among the first ironsmith nations by classical authors.[1] Χάλυψ, the tribe's name in Greek, means "tempered iron, steel", a term that passed into Latin as chalybs, "steel".
The Turkish name of the city is Trabzon. It is historically known in English as Trebizond. The first recorded name of the city is Τραπεζοῦς (Trapezous), referencing the table-like central hill
The Hebrew word for Table is שלחן is ξύλον 'bench, table (Dem. 45 33)
- τράπεζα, τράπεσδα
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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Clues.

Herodotus mentions certain people who circumcise in 2.104.

1. Colchians and Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only nations that have from the first practiced circumcision
2, Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine acknowledge that they learned the custom from the Egyptians
3. Syrians of Thermodon and Parthenius and there neighbors the Macrones, learned it lately from the Colchians

Herodotus 3.97 (Revenue of Darius I)
Gifts were also required of the Colchians and their neighbors as far as the Caucasus mountains, these were rendered every four years and are still rendered, namely, a hundred boys and as many maids.

Here we have a people who practice circumcision given too Darius and probably turned into Eunuchs, circumcised slaves in the household of the Persians.

δωρεήν - Gifts
Καυκάσιος ὄρεος - Kaukasion Mountains
παῖδας - Boys
παρθένους - Maids, unmarried women

In Genesis, for example 24:2, the Greek renders the word 'Servants' as παῖδας and Genesis mentions Eunuchs, as in Genesis 40:2 - Pharaoh was wroth against two of his Eunuchs [εὐνούχοις. סריסיו].

Abraham of Syria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrocomas
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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Book of Ezra-Nehemiah, these books used to be one book, but was split into two and reordered and only covers the period between Cyrus and Darius II, so where does the Story of Esther fit into the chronology of Ezra-Nehemiah?

Ezra 1
Edict of Cyrus; Sheshbazzar brings the temple treasure.

1 Esdras 4:47-56; 62-5:6
Darius approves Zerubabel to return.

Ezra 2:1-4:5
Zerubabel returns and begins the work opposed by adversaries.

Ezra 5-6
A letter is sent to Darius and the decree of Cyrus found; the temple is built and dedicated on the 3rd of the twelfth month in the sixth year of Darius.

Ezra 4:6
An objection is raised in the time of Xerxes.

Ezra 7-8
In the 7th year of Artaxerxes, Ezra comes to Jerusalem with a letter of authority from the king and men gathered on route.

Nehemiah 7:70-8
In the seventh month Ezra read the law and introduced the festival of booths.

Ezra 9-10
Ezra stops mixed marriages.

Nehemiah 9-10
Mixing ceases on the 24th; the author gives Ezra a long composed speech; a covenant is sealed by Nehemiah and others; spearation is again confirmed and a pledge to give a third of a shekel followed by an added justification of it.

Ezra 4:6-23
Adversaries demand a letter to Artaxerxes and he stops any further work on the walls until the time of Darius.

Nehemiah 1-7:69.
n the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah comes as governor and repairs the walls of Jerusalem against opposition; he implements social and economic reform.

Nehemiah 11-13
Lists of people are followed by a retrospective look by Nehemiah at his second tour of duty during which the walls were dedicated, apparently in the reign of Darius II
Last edited by Ethan on Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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Ezra 3:7
They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

2 Chronicles 2:16
Now therefore the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants: And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

1 Kings 5:9
My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me ... 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.

-contemporary-
Hiram III - 551–532 BCE
Cyrus - 559–530 BCE

Tomb of Hiram" (Qabr Hiram) dates from the Persian period.
www.livius.org/articles/place/hannaouiye-tomb-of-hiram/
*topological similarity to the tombs at Pasargadae and Gur-e Dokhtar.

2 Chronicles 2:16
רפסדות/ῥαφιδευτός (ῥαπτός) "boat made of hide stitched together"

1 Kings 5:9
רפסדות/διφθέρα "prepared hide, piece of leather"

Both 2 Chronicles 2:16 and 1 Kings 5:9 describe a raft, both use different words and are in fact loaned from Greek and are detailed in Herodotus, accordingly, they are Assyrian rafts made in Armenia and are designed to convoy products down a river, however no mention of Phoenicians using them to convoy products down the Mediterranean.

Herodotus 1.194
Their (Assyrian) boats which ply the river and go to Babylon are all of skins, and round. [2] They make these in Armenia, higher up the stream than Assyria. First they cut frames of willow, then they stretch hides (διφθέρας/דברות) over these for a covering, making as it were a hold; they neither broaden the stern nor narrow the prow, but the boat is round, like a shield. They then fill it with reeds and send it floating down the river with a cargo; and it is for the most part palm wood casks of wine that they carry down.

Agreement
- that which one must pay, obligation, debt" (2 Chronicles 2:16)
- 'the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. (Ezra 3:7)

The word Grant, in Ezra 3:7 is כרשיון, a word that only occurs in this verse in the Bible, also Greek from ῥήτρην 'verbal agreement, bargain, covenant' is the same as כרת and ברית. In 2 Chronicles 2:16 the word for 'need' (צרך) is χρέος "that which one needs must pay, obligation, debt".

1 Kings 5:11
Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year and king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men, And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.

*Levy (מס) = δασμός 'division of spoils, tribute'

2 Samuel 20:40
Adoram[אדרם/Αδωνιραμ] was over the tribute

1 Kings 12:18
Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones

1 Kings 4:6
Adoniram [אדנירם] the son of Abda[עבדא/ Εφρα] was over the tribute. (son of Ephra in LXX)

Esther 10:1
king Ahasuerus laid a tribute [מס] upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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Re: Barnabazus

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-Kings of Tyre-
Hiram III 551–532 BCE
Mattan IV 490–480 BCE
Boulomenus 450 BCE
Abdemon 420–411 BCE

During the Ezra-Nehemiah period of the Persian Empire, Tyre was independent from the 5th District of the Achaemenid Empire
and also, if you look at a map of the so-called David-Solomon empire, Tyre is not part of the Kingdom of David and Solomon and no tribe was allotted it.

Image

The Kingdom of David-Israel is the 5th District of the Achaemenid Empire.
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
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