The Night We Became People Again

An old and familiar office of the Christmas story goes like this: Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem shortly earlier the nascence of Jesus. [1] The night they arrived in Bethlehem in that location were no rooms bachelor in the local inns, and so Joseph and Mary had to make a place for themselves in a local stable, where Mary gave birth to Jesus and and then laid him in a manger, a feeding trough for the animals.

The pic painted past the higher up part of the Christmas story is non a pretty ane. It paints a cold and selfish picture of the people of Bethlehem. About people of every age and culture get out of their way to help women in need, but somehow the people of Bethlehem closed their doors to this immature adult female nigh to requite birth. Is that really the moving-picture show of the birth of Christ that the Word of God paints for us? We will see that in that location is a joyful flick of giving in the Christmas story that has been subconscious from the eyes of many Christians, but which shows the true middle of Christmas: giving to others from a joyful heart.

The modern Christian understanding of the birth of Jesus comes largely from extra-biblical works and traditions imported into the Gospels, rather than the biblical record itself. Much misinformation came from a document that was widely circulated in the early on centuries of the Christian era. It is referred to by scholars as the Protevangelium of James, and was likely written in the third century A.D. [2] The Protevangelium is the first certificate scholars are aware of that refers to Jesus beingness born close to Mary'southward arrival in Bethlehem, though it says Jesus was born in a cave earlier Joseph and Mary even reached Bethlehem. Sadly, in aboriginal times as well as today, people seem to pay more attention to what people say about the Bible than what the Bible itself says.

Nosotros do not know how large a office the Protevangelium played in developing the tradition that Mary gave birth to Jesus the night she and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. Withal, we do know that the traditional belief became easier to sustain as the center of Christian culture moved to Europe, where twenty-four hours-to-day life was quite dissimilar from life in Palestine.

Arrival in Bethlehem

When nosotros read the Bible advisedly, fifty-fifty in most English language versions, we see that Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem for an unspecified number of days before Mary gave birth.

Luke ii:6 (KJV)
And and so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

It is clear from Luke 2:6 that Joseph and Mary did not make it in Bethlehem the night she gave birth, but days earlier. Mary gave birth "while they [she and Joseph] were at that place [in Bethlehem]," and the poetry specifically says "days." When the word "days" is used in the plural in the New Attestation, information technology e'er refers to "days" literally or a period of time. Had Joseph and Mary arrived the day Mary gave nascency, the text would have used "24-hour interval" or "hours," not the plural "days." New Testament scholars know this. For example, R. C. H. Lenski writes: "This [the solar day Jesus was born] was not the solar day of Joseph'southward and Mary's arrival…." [3] Nevertheless, equally usual, scholarship does not often accept the power to overturn tradition, with its well-entrenched stories, songs, and paintings.

If Joseph and Mary had been staying in Bethlehem before Jesus was born, how is it that they had not constitute adequate lodging? Why give nascency in a stable and lay Jesus in a manger? Oops, the Bible never says the birth was in a stable—that is tradition. If for some reason Bethlehem was so totally filled with guests and visitors that no one would open their homes to Joseph and Mary, their relatives Zechariah and Elizabeth lived only a short distance abroad, in the hill country of Judah (Luke 1:39 – NASB) [four], and Joseph and Mary could have gone there with only a little effort. In fact, Mary had visited Elizabeth early in her pregnancy (Luke i:40). So Joseph and Mary could take institute adequate housing and care if they needed it.

Getting the Story Straight

The story of the night of Christ'due south birth needs to be retaught and relearned in Christian circles, not only because truth matters and what really happened is important, but because it shows the love and sacrifice that people make to help each other, and the true joy of giving and then that others may exist blessed. That is a much more than redemptive rendition of the Christmas story than townspeople closing their hearts and shutting their doors to a pregnant woman in need.

In lodge to see what really happened around the season of the birth of Christ we will demand to glean facts from both the Greek text and the civilisation of the ancient Near E (which, past the way, existed in many parts there until quite recently). Besides often the Greek text lonely has been used to try to reveal biblical truth. The Greek text alone is non plenty to rebuild the truth of the biblical events for a very unproblematic reason: when something in a culture is usual, well known, normal, or "standard operating procedure," information technology is non written about in item. For example, if I write a letter to a friend about my months of being with my son as he recovered from beingness wounded in battle, I might say, "I drove to the hospital every day." I would never write: "I went to the infirmary in my car, which is a large metallic and plastic mobility device on wheels, with a gasoline engine that starts when an ignition key is turned, and I made it motility by pedals on the floor, (etc)." Information technology would be ridiculous to write that. Why? Considering everyone in today'southward civilisation knows exactly what I hateful when I say, "I collection to the hospital." Maybe 2000 years from now, if civilization has inverse so much that simply a few historians know what a car is, they might wish we described our driving in more detail, merely that is not necessary today. In the same manner, things that were part of the everyday culture of the Bible times were not described in particular in their writings. We have to acquire about the ordinary things of ancient life by piecing together details from many texts and writings, past using archaeology to report the material a culture left to the states, and by studying whatsoever cultures that still live the same way.

What we volition encounter as we examine the biblical record from both the Greek text and the culture of the times is that Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem some fourth dimension before she gave birth and were taken into the dwelling of a local resident, probable a relative who was besides of the family of David, in whose home Mary gave nascence. Although virtually English language versions take the phrase, "there was no room for them in the inn," we will run into that phrase has been both mistranslated and misinterpreted.

Welcomed into a Private Dwelling

Earlier we wait at the mistranslations of "room" and "inn," yet, let us look at some reasons Joseph and Mary could take found a identify to stay. [v] Beginning, Joseph was returning to his town of origin. Historical memories are long in the Middle East, and family support is very strong. For example, Paul knew he was a descendant of Benjamin (Phil. 3:v), even though Benjamin lived more than 1500 years earlier than he did. Given the long family memories in Hebrew culture, in one case Joseph told people that both he and Mary were descendants of families from Bethlehem, many homes would be open to them. In fact, it is likely that Joseph and Mary already knew of relatives in Bethlehem and may well accept gone to those homes first to find lodging. Every bit we encounter the true story of Christ's birth develop, that seems like a very stiff possibility.

Second, not just one, but both Joseph and Mary were "royals," because they were both from the royal line of David. David is so famous in Bethlehem that it is called, "the metropolis of David" (Luke ii:iv – KJV). Being from that famous family would have meant that most homes would open their doors to them if only for that fact lone. Beingness able to host a couple that was direct descendants of David would have been an accolade and privilege.

Tertiary, in every culture women about to give birth are given special assistance, and the hamlet of Bethlehem would exist no different. The New Testament scholar Kenneth Bailey, who has spent his life living in the East and teaching in Universities in Egypt and Lebanon, properly understands the heart of hamlet life in Palestine and points out that Joseph and Mary would never have been turned away in their 60 minutes of need. He says:

"Was in that location no sense of honor in Bethlehem? Surely the community would have sensed its responsibleness to help Joseph find adequate shelter for Mary and provide the care she needed. To turn abroad a descendent of David in the city of David would be an unspeakable shame to the entire village." [six]

Fourth, and very chiefly, the shepherds who came to see Jesus shortly after his nascence knew that he was the promised Messiah and their Savior. The angel had made that very clear to them. When they found Joseph, Mary, and their Savior, and if they in any mode felt that he was not being treated well, they would have been scandalized and outraged, and immediately taken them dwelling house to their own houses. The fact that they did no such affair, simply left the new family where they were and went to tell the good news to the whole area, indicates they felt Joseph, Mary, and the infant were being well cared for.

It is important that we properly sympathise the tape of the birth of Christ. The night that Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem they were not rejected past a local hotel that had its "No Vacancy" sign turned on. Instead, they were taken into the private home of a caring family, who permit them stay in the family living quarters. This blazon of giving and joy of service demonstrates the truthful meaning of Christmas.

In that location was No Space in the Guestroom

Let's read, properly interpret, and correctly empathise what happened when Jesus was born.

Luke 2:7
and she [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The phrase "no room in the inn" is a mistranslation that continues to support the misunderstanding about the birth of Christ. Two words we must empathize to properly interpret the biblical account are topos, which most versions translate as "room," and kataluma, which most versions translate equally "inn." The word topos occurs more than than 90 times in the New Testament. It does not refer to "a room," like we think of a hotel room, or a bedroom, but simply to a identify, or a space in a given expanse. The text is non proverb in that location was no "room" for Joseph and Mary as in the sense of a hotel room, but rather that there was no "space" for them. Infinite where? Not in the "inn," but in the kataluma. What is a kataluma? In the Gospel record it is a "lodging place" or "invitee room," not a commercial order, or inn. There was no space for Joseph and Mary in the guest room because it was already full. It is noteworthy that fifty-fifty Bauer'south Greek-English language Lexicon notes that if Luke 2:7 had meant to say "inn" in the sense of a hotel, there is a amend Greek discussion that is used elsewhere in Luke. [7]

The normal Greek word for "inn" is pandocheion, and it refers to a public house for the reception of strangers (caravansary, khan, inn; we would say hotel or cabin). The word pandocheion was used non simply past the Greeks, but also as a loan-word for "inn" or a commercial lodging identify in Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, and Turkish. Luke uses the word pandocheion in the parable of the Practiced Samaritan when the Samaritan took the man who was mugged to a public inn (Luke 10:34).

In dissimilarity to the public inn (pandocheion), both Mark and Luke utilize kataluma in their Gospels as a "guest room" in someone's house (Mark xiv:fourteen; Luke 22:eleven). When finding a identify to swallow the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus tells them to say to the possessor of the house, "…The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room [kataluma], where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?" (Luke 22:11). So in both Mark and Luke, the kataluma is a guest room in a house, not an inn or hotel.

The gospel of Luke likewise uses the verb form of kataluma, which is kataluo, "to find residual or lodging." When Zacchaeus the tax collector brings Jesus abode for a repast, the Bible says that Jesus goes "to exist the guest" [kataluo] at Zacchaeus' house (Luke 19:7). So Luke uses both the noun kataluma and the verb kataluo to refer to a room in someone's business firm. [8] The fact that pandocheion is a better word for "inn" than kataluma, along with the fact that Luke used pandocheion for an "inn" and kataluma for a guest room, is very solid testify that Luke is telling u.s. the family who took in Joseph and Mary had "no infinite" in their "guest room." Thus the Bible should non exist translated to say there was no room for them in the inn, but rather there was "no space for them in the invitee room." It is noteworthy that Young's Literal Translation of the Bible, done by Robert Young, the aforementioned man who produced Immature's Concordance to the Bible, translates Luke 2:7 as follows: "…in that location was non for them a place in the guest-sleeping accommodation."

One thing that is left out of the biblical record is why the invitee room was full. Although nosotros will never know for sure, there are a couple of possibilities. First, if Jesus was born when we of Spirit & Truth Fellowship think he was, the first solar day of Tishri, it is possible that Jerusalem and the surrounding region was already experiencing a large influx of people for the flavour of the twelvemonth, considering it had the largest number of sacred days and feasts. The month of Tishri (unremarkably around our September) had the Feast of Trumpets (Tishri 1), the Twenty-four hour period of Atonement (Tishri 10), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Tishri 15-22), and anyone who was traveling a very long distance to exist at Jerusalem for whatsoever of them might have wanted to be there for the entire festival season. Also, Luke tells us the reason that Joseph traveled to Bethlehem was due to the Caesar's tax registration (Luke ii:1-four), and it is possible that other family unit members likewise Joseph had decided to travel to Bethlehem at that fourth dimension, when they could both register for the tax and be role of the celebrations in Jerusalem. [9]

Mutual Features of an Eastern Life

At that place are a few things about ordinary houses and ordinary life in first century Palestine that nosotros must know in order to sympathise the birth of Jesus. Ane is that it was quite common for houses in the Centre Due east to have a guest room where guests, and even strangers, could stay. Showing hospitality to strangers has always been a huge part of Eastern life, and is written nigh in the Bible and in many books on the community of the Bible. Several biblical records prove strangers beingness given hospitality, including the record of Lot (Gen. 19:one-iv), the man in Gibeah (Judg. nineteen:19-21), and the Shunamite woman, who showed hospitality to Elisha by edifice a guest room just for him (two Kings iv:10). Giving hospitality is a command for Christian leaders also (1 Tim. 3:2).

Even poor people could have a guest room because it did not have to be furnished or have an adjoining bathroom and shower. People did not generally sleep on beds, only traveled with their ain blankets that they slept on at dark, so sleeping arrangements were no trouble. Tables and chairs were not used in the common homes of get-go century Palestinians, and the bathroom was a pot, or a place outside. So the average guest room was simply a small, empty room, offer shelter and a place of condom. The guest room provided privacy for the guests as well as the family unit, because one-room homes were common. Our modernistic houses with many rooms were simply not the norm in a village of the beginning century. Quite ofttimes a family unit lived in a i-room house, in which all family activities occurred. They pulled their bedrolls out at nighttime and slept on the floor, and only rolled them upwards once again in the morning. Of course, the Bible does not specify that Joseph and Mary were taken into a one-room house, only even if it were a larger, two-room house Jesus would still have been born in the family room of the house. Single room dwellings were and so mutual, notwithstanding, that when Jesus taught that a lighted oil lamp (sometimes mistranslated every bit "candle") was lit and put on a stand, it would give light "to everyone in the firm" (Matt. 5:15).

Some other thing we must understand most houses in the East is that it was common for people to bring their animals, such as the family donkey, a couple of milk goats, or a cow or two, into the habitation at nighttime. Such animals were very valuable, and the people brought them in at nighttime to go along them from being stolen and to protect them from harm. Also, the animals added estrus to the house, which would be very welcome on chilly nights. The woman in Endor who King Saul visited at dark had her calf in the house with her: "And the woman had a fat dogie in the house" (i Sam. 28:24, KJV). [x] Of grade, if the family were shepherds or herdsmen, they would not bring the whole flock or herd into the house, but would have a family member or hired guard lookout man them in the field, just equally the shepherds were in the field on the night Jesus was born.

It was a common practice to raise the floor of the function of the business firm where the family lived, and keep the animals in an area that was a little lower. [11] Knowing this helps the states sympathise Luke 2:six and also where that idea that Jesus was born in a stable came from. Jesus was laid in a manger, which is an open trough, box, or bin, where the animal food was placed then the animals could feed easily. In Western society, mangers are in barns or stables, then if Jesus was laid in a manger information technology made sense he was built-in in a stable. However, in Eastern club, where the animals grazed outside during the twenty-four hours and were brought into the house at night, the manger was in the business firm. Having the manger in the business firm kept the animals calm and contented in the tighter quarters of the house, only as many mod farm animals have a feeding trough in their stall stay calm and content.

Everyone knew the manger was in the firm, so when the Bible says that Jesus was laid in a manger "because" in that location was no space in the invitee room, whatsoever Easterner would understand perfectly that the guest room was full and then Jesus was built-in in the chief part of the house where the family unit and animals stayed. Sometime later on his nascence he was safely placed in the manger, which would accept been filled with clean hay or harbinger and would have been the perfect size for him. This was not to demean him in whatsoever fashion, but to care for him. The protective walls of the manger kept him safely guarded and away from busy anxiety and a bustling household, as well equally warm and protected from any drafts or cold air in the dwelling house.

Another thing that helps us understand the Christmas story is agreement Eastern hospitality. In the East, guests were given special handling of all kinds, including behavior that seems very extreme to us. For example, in the record of Lot and the two strangers, Lot would have handed over his own daughters to the mob before surrendering his guests (Gen. 19:8). Similarly, the people with whom Joseph and Mary stayed would never displace their guests from the invitee room, but instead would inconvenience themselves, graciously bringing the couple into their living space.

Another thing we need to know is that Mary and Joseph would not have been lone when Jesus was built-in. Actually, Joseph would not take been there at all, while the women of the household, along with the women of the family staying in the invitee room, virtually likely the hamlet midwife, and perhaps even wise and experienced women from the neighborhood, would have been present. They would accept shooed Joseph and the rest of the men out of the house some time during Mary's labor (really, the men would have graciously left on their ain, which was as well standard process in that culture). This is all completely normal for birth in a village in State of israel.

Someone with a modern Western mindset may say, "Well, the Bible does non say those women were there." Of course not. We remind the reader that if something was normal for the civilization, it was written well-nigh but rarely, if ever. The details of a woman giving birth are never given in the Bible. Is someone going to insist that none of the women in the Bible who are mentioned giving nascence (and there are dozens of them) had other women to assistance them just because those helpers are non specifically mentioned? That would be absurd. No details of the nascence would be given in the Bible because births were a "normal" office of life, and no showtime-century reader in Palestine would expect annihilation unlike than what unremarkably happens with a village nascence. In fact, if the women of the household had non been there to assistance, that would take been so unusual (and seemingly coldhearted) that it would probably be written about in the Bible.

While Mary was in labor and giving nascency in the firm, the man who owned the house, along with his sons and Joseph, would have been outside or perhaps in the domicile of a neighbour, giving Mary the privacy she needed during the birth of Jesus. [12] Once Jesus was born, a woman would announce that a baby boy had been born, and there would be shouting, music, and joyful partying. Of form the men would be immune back in the business firm after in that location had been acceptable time afterward the birth to become things dorsum in proper order and make sure Jesus and Mary were comfy. Thus infant Jesus would take been born in normal circumstances, with Mary being helped and cared for by the women around her while the men waited outside to hear the news of the birth.

The Christmas Story

So nosotros see that the way the birth of Jesus really happened is considerably different than what is commonly taught. Information technology is non that Bethlehem was full of cold-hearted townspeople who would not take special care of a young adult female almost to have her first child.

Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem at least a few days before Mary gave birth, and were taken in past ane of the local homes, most probable that of a relative. The host family unit already had guests in the kataluma, the guest room, so there was no space (topos) for them there. Therefore, the homeowners graciously made room for Joseph and Mary in their own living quarters, treating them like family. When Mary went into labor, the men left their ain home to give her privacy, and the women of the household, likely forth with the village midwife, came to Mary's side for help and support. When Mary gave nascency to our Lord and Savior tardily in the evening (later dusk) or at dark, Joseph and the men would have been told the news, and in that location would take been much jubilation and revelry, which was always a traditional office of the birth of a infant boy, particularly if information technology was a starting time child. [xiii] Erstwhile afterwards the men would have been called dorsum into the house to see the new infant boy.

Non besides long after Jesus was built-in, he was wrapped in swaddling apparel, dedicated to God, and placed in a perfect spot, the manger in the family dwelling, which would accept been cleaned and fabricated up with fresh hay or straw. No doubt the news before long spread around the village that a infant boy had been built-in (the music and shouting would have helped that happen), and that both the female parent and infant were doing well, but this kind of news was common in village life. Withal, soon there was news that was anything only mutual. Shepherds showed up from a nearby field to run across the newborn child, and afterward seeing him, went out and told the hamlet that a peachy light had shined around them, that they had seen an ground forces of angels on the hillsides, and that an angel had told them that this infant was no ordinary baby, but the Messiah, the Savior. Their report caused great wonder all over the region, and resulted in glory and praise to God.

The story of the birth of Christ reveals what nosotros today consider to be the truthful spirit of Christmas. Non people closing their hearts and homes to a couple in need, only rather people opening both their hearts and their homes, and joyfully giving to others in demand and helping where they can. It is wonderful that the Christ, who gave and so much to then many, was born in circumstances in which people were so giving to him.

John Schoenheit

Endnotes

[1] I use "Christmas story" in this commodity because of its familiarly in our culture, just information technology is important to know that Jesus was born in the Fall of the year, likely September, and not in December
[2] Wilhelm Schneemelcher, editor, New Testament Apocrypha (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1963), "The Protevangelium of James," pp. 370-388. It is possible, simply non probable, that it dates as early as 150 A.D.
[3] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke'due south Gospel, (Augsburg Publishing Business firm, Minneapolis, MN, 1946), p. 126.
[4] Some versions, such equally the NASB say Judah, while some say "Judea." The correct translation is Judah, and it refers to the ancient tribal area of Judah, non the Roman province of Judea. The Greek is iouda, which Luke uses for Judah, usually the proper name of a man and here the tribal area named after the human, Judah, the son of Jacob. If Luke had meant Roman Judea, he would have used ioudaia as he did 10 places in Luke and 12 in Acts. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 past The Lockman Foundation. Used past permission.
[v] These reasons are given in Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Heart Eastern Eyes, (IVP Academic, Downers Grove, IL, 2008), pp. 25-37, and credit must get to him for enlightening me to the basic truth in this commodity and for making many of the points I have covered; that Jesus was built-in in the dwelling of a loving family in Bethlehem, who opened their habitation to Joseph and Mary.
[vi] Bailey, Jesus Through Eye Eastern Eyes, p. 26.
[seven] Bauer'due south Greek-English Dictionary says of kataluma: "lodging place. The sense inn is possible in Lk 2:7, but in x:34 Luke uses pandocheion, the more specific term for inn. Kataluma is therefore best understood here as lodging or invitee-room."
[viii] In the New Testament, the but other use of the verb kataluo is also in Luke, and occurs in Luke nine:12 in the record of the feeding of the 5,000. The disciples wanted Jesus to send abroad the multitude so they could "find lodging" and become something to eat. Although the disciples spoke in a general sense, in the culture of the East, where showing hospitality was an important function of family unit life, they would take had in heed that these 5000 would observe lodging with other people, and not that they would notice local hotels to stay in. Public inns have been around a long fourth dimension, and much could be written about them. In the outset identify, in that location were not many of them. Certainly not enough for 5000 men and their families to stay. Beyond that, however, both those inns that were modeled afterwards the inns of the Greco-Roman culture and those with roots in the Eastern civilisation were not wonderful places to stay, like the hotels we have today. They were loud and muddied places, and often filled with riff-raff and ruffians. They were centers of prostitution and drunken parties (oftentimes the inn provided food for sale and prostitutes for rent), and the rooms were not rented privately, equally in our modernistic hotels. Instead, guests rented a space on the flooring to sleep (there were no beds), and it was anyone's guess who might be in the room with y'all, renting the infinite on the floor next to you (and anyone's guess if they would actually sleep or stay upward all dark engaged in activities with friends or prostitutes). In contrast to staying in a public inn, taking in travelers for the night was a long established biblical custom, going back to Genesis (cp. Gen. 19:i-iii), and that is what the disciples would have thought near when they knew Jesus' audience needed to find a identify to stay.
[9] Caesar wanted everyone to exist registered for taxation, then some versions read "enrolled," some "registered," some "taxed," some refer to a "census," etc. It was a registration, or enrollment, for revenue enhancement.
[10] The translation "in the house" is correct, and is used in the more literal translations such as the KJV, ESV, NASB, etc.
[11] Fred Wight, Manners and Community of Bible Lands (Moody Press, Chicago, 1953), p. 34; Bailey, Jesus Through Centre Eastern Eyes, pp. 28-33. The New Testament scholar John Nolland also mentions the area for animals being somewhat lower than where the people ate and slept: "…it is best to think of an overcrowded Palestinian peasant abode: a unmarried-roomed home with an brute stall under the same roof (frequently to be distinguished from the family living quarters by the raised platform floor of the latter). John Nolland, Give-and-take Biblical Commentary (Nelson Reference and Electronic, Colombia, 1989), p. 105.
[12] We know Jesus' birth was late in the evening, after dusk, or at night, because the shepherds were in the fields at dark when the angel appeared to them (Luke 2:8 – KJV), and told them the Christ was born "this mean solar day." Since "this day" started at sunset, as all Jewish days do, and so the Messiah was built-in after sunset.
[13] We Westerners are used to thinking of Mary's nascency night as existence silent and peaceful (notation the song, "Silent Night"), only the nascency of a boy is e'er the time for a party in hamlet life.

Courtesy of http://www.truthortradition.com/manufactures/retelling-the-christmas-story

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Source: https://goodnessofgodministries.international/2013/12/17/some-wonderful-truths-about-the-night-of-jesuss-birth-according-to-the-bible-and-not-tradition/

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