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Biblical Aramaic

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Biblical Aramaic is the form of Aramaic that is used in the books of Daniel and Ezra in the Hebrew Bible . It should not be confused with the Targums – Aramaic paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Hebrew scriptures.

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59-775: During the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, which began around 600 BC, the language spoken by the Jews started to change from Hebrew to Aramaic , and Aramaic square script replaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet . After the Achaemenid Empire annexed the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, Aramaic became the main language of public life and administration. Darius the Great declared Imperial Aramaic to be

118-641: A fire started by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Ash and burnt wood beams were also discovered at several structures in the Givati Parking Lot , which were attributed by the archeologists to the destruction of the city in 586 BC. Arrowheads of the socketed bronze trilobate type, associated with the destruction of cities in the Assyrian heartland by the Babylonians and the Medes , likewise first appear in

177-651: A later deportation occurred in Nebuchadnezzar II's 23rd year (582 BCE). However, the dates, numbers of deportations, and numbers of deportees vary in the several biblical accounts. The Bible recounts how after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the Achaemenid Empire at the Battle of Opis in 539 BCE, exiled Judeans were permitted by the Persians to return to Judah . According to

236-672: A native Judahite; he encouraged the many Jews who had fled to surrounding countries such as Moab , Ammon and Edom to return, and he took steps to return the country to prosperity. Some time later, a surviving member of the royal family assassinated Gedaliah and his Babylonian advisors, prompting many refugees to seek safety in Egypt. By the end of the second decade of the 6th century BCE, in addition to those who remained in Judah, there were significant Jewish communities in Babylon and in Egypt; this

295-557: A number of serious effects on Judaism and Jewish culture. For example, the current Hebrew alphabet was adopted during this period, replacing the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet . This period saw the last high point of biblical prophecy in the person of Ezekiel , followed by the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Jewish life. According to many historical-critical scholars, the Torah

354-590: A prisoner until his death. According to the Bible, following the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonian general Nebuzaradan was sent to complete its destruction. The city and Solomon's Temple were plundered and destroyed, and most of the Judeans were taken by Nebuzaradan into captivity in Babylon , with only a few people permitted to remain to tend to the land ( Jeremiah 52:16 ). Archaeological evidence confirms that

413-497: A pro-Egyptian position. In 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II laid siege to Jerusalem . Jehoiakim died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah at an age of either eight or eighteen. The city fell about three months later, on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BC. Nebuchadnezzar II pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple and carted all of his spoils to Babylon. Jeconiah and his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with

472-525: A siege of Jerusalem in January 589 BC. Many Jews fled to surrounding Moab , Ammon , Edom and other kingdoms to seek refuge. The Bible describes the city as enduring horrible deprivation during the siege ( 2 Kings 25:3 ; Lamentations 4:4 , 5 , 9 ). The city fell after a siege, which lasted either eighteen or thirty months. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign ( 2 Kings 25:2 ; Jeremiah 39:2 ), Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalem's walls, conquering

531-699: A sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah; According to the Book of Kings, about 10,000 were deported from the land and dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire . Nebuchadnezzar II installed Jeconiah's uncle, Zedekiah as vassal king of Judah, at the age of 21. However, despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadnezzar II by ceasing to pay tribute to him and entered an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra . Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Judah, aiming to capture Jerusalem ( 2 Kings 25:1 ). Nebuchadnezzar began

590-612: Is consistent with all three relevant biblical sources—Jeremiah, Ezekiel , and 2 Kings. Archaeological evidence supports the biblical account that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 or 586 BC. Archaeological research has shown that the Babylonians systematically destroyed the city with fire and that the city wall was pulled down. The remains of three residential structures excavated in the City of David (the Burnt Room, House of Ahiel, and House of Bullae) contain burned wooden beams from

649-607: The Davidic dynasty , were exiled to Babylon. After Babylon had fallen to Cyrus the Great , founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire , in 539 BC, he allowed the exiled Judeans to return to Zion and rebuild Jerusalem. The Second Temple was completed in 516 BC. Whereas the Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle provides information about the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC , the only known records of

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708-574: The Euphrates river in Syria, but Babylon counter-attacked. In the process Josiah , the king of Judah, was killed in a battle with the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo (609 BCE) . After the defeat of Pharaoh Necho's army by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Some of the young nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon. In

767-702: The Mountain Jewish communities are believed to derive their ancestry in large part from these exiles; these communities have now largely emigrated to Israel . In the late 7th century BCE, the Kingdom of Judah was a client state of the Assyrian empire. In the last decades of the century, Assyria was overthrown by Babylon, an Assyrian province. Egypt , fearing the sudden rise of the Neo-Babylonian empire , seized control of Assyrian territory up to

826-443: The Neo-Babylonian Empire . The deportations occurred in multiple waves: After the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BCE, around 7,000 individuals were deported to Mesopotamia . Further deportations followed the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple in 587 BCE. In the biblical account, after the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem, which resulted in tribute being paid by

885-721: The Pentateuch took place in the Persian period following the exile, and the Priestly source , one of its main sources, is primarily a product of the post-exilic period when the former Kingdom of Judah had become the Persian province of Yehud. In the Hebrew Bible, the captivity in Babylon is presented as a punishment for idolatry and disobedience to Yahweh in a similar way to the presentation of Israelite slavery in Egypt followed by deliverance. The Babylonian captivity had

944-529: The Southern Levant in the burnt layers associated with Nebuchadnezzar II's destruction of the city. Samples of soil and fragments of a plaster floor recovered from one of the structures indicate that it was exposed to a temperature of at least 600°C. A number of wine jars were found to contain remains of vanilla , indicating that the spice was used by the Jerusalemite elite before destruction of

1003-484: The official language of the western half of his empire in 500 BC, and it is that Imperial Aramaic that forms the basis of Biblical Aramaic. Biblical Hebrew was gradually reduced to the status of a liturgical language and a language of theological learning, and the Jews of the Second Temple period that started in 516 BC would have spoken a western form of Old Aramaic until their partial Hellenization from

1062-733: The " Jewish diaspora ", unless this is considered to have begun with the Assyrian captivity . In Rabbinic literature , Babylon was one of a number of metaphors for the Jewish diaspora. Most frequently the term "Babylon" meant the diaspora prior to the destruction of the Second Temple. The post-destruction term for the Jewish Diaspora was " Rome ", or " Edom ". The following table is based on Rainer Albertz's work on Israel in exile , itself based mainly on biblical texts. (Alternative dates are possible.) Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC) The siege of Jerusalem ( c. 589–587 BC)

1121-526: The 3rd century BC and the eventual emergence of Middle Aramaic in the 3rd century BC. As Imperial Aramaic had served as a lingua franca throughout the Ancient Near East from the second half of the 8th century BC to the end of the 4th century BC, linguistic contact with even the oldest stages of Biblical Hebrew, the main language of the Hebrew Bible, is easily accounted for. Biblical Aramaic's relative chronology has been debated mostly in

1180-500: The 5th to 4th centuries BCE. A 2017 exhibition in Jerusalem displayed over 100 cuneiform tablets detailing trade in fruits and other commodities, taxes, debts, and credits accumulated between Jews forced or persuaded to move from Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BCE. The tablets included details on one exiled Judean family over four generations, all with Hebrew names. Most Jews who returned were poor Jews and either saw

1239-552: The Aramaic of the Book of Daniel is compatible with any period from the 5th to early 2nd century BC. Biblical Hebrew is the main language of the Hebrew Bible. Aramaic accounts for only 269 verses out of a total of over 23,000. Biblical Aramaic is closely related to Hebrew, as both are in the Northwest Semitic language family. Some obvious similarities and differences are listed below: Hebrew and Aramaic have simplified

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1298-574: The Bible, Zedekiah attempted to escape, but was captured near Jericho . He was forced to watch the execution of his sons in Riblah , and his eyes were then put out. The destruction of Jerusalem and its temple led to a religious, spiritual and political crisis, which left its mark in prophetic literature and biblical tradition. The Kingdom of Judah was abolished and annexed as a Babylonian province with its center in Mizpah . The Judean elite, including

1357-518: The Hatti-land, and encamped against the City of Judah and on the ninth day of the month of Adar he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice and taking heavy tribute brought it back to Babylon. Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets , describing ration orders for a captive King of Judah, identified with King Jeconiah, have been discovered during excavations in Babylon, in

1416-536: The Hebrew Bible, the city fell in the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year. It is agreed that Jerusalem fell the second time in the summer month of Tammuz (as recorded in Jeremiah 52:6 ). However, scholars disagree as to whether this dates to 586 BC or 587 BC. William F. Albright dated the end of Zedekiah's reign and the fall of Jerusalem to 587 BC whereas Edwin R. Thiele offered 586 BC. In 2004, Rodger Young published an analysis in which he identified 587 BC for

1475-524: The Judean king Jehoiakim . In the fourth year of Nebuchadnezzar II's reign, Jehoiakim refused to pay further tribute, which led to another siege of the city in Nebuchadnezzar II's seventh year (598/597 BCE) that culminated in the death of Jehoiakim and the exile to Babylonia of his successor Jeconiah , his court, and many others; Jeconiah's successor Zedekiah and others were exiled when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem in his 18th year (587 BCE), and

1534-568: The Persians conquered Babylon. Exiled Jewish commoners were nostalgic about Judah and, due to circumstance, were forced to abandon temple-based worship. They mostly worshipped in private homes and kept some religious traditions such as circumcision, Sabbath observance, reading of the Psalms and Law . The Cyrus Cylinder , an ancient tablet on which is written a declaration in the name of Cyrus referring to restoration of temples and repatriation of exiled peoples, has often been taken as corroboration of

1593-437: The age of eighteen. The city fell on 2 Adar (March 16) 597 BCE, and Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and its Temple and took Jeconiah, his court and other prominent citizens (including the prophet Ezekiel ) back to Babylon. Jehoiakim's uncle Zedekiah was appointed king in his place, but the exiles in Babylon continued to consider Jeconiah as their Exilarch , or rightful ruler. Despite warnings by Jeremiah and others of

1652-472: The authenticity of the biblical decrees attributed to Cyrus, but other scholars point out that the cylinder's text is specific to Babylon and Mesopotamia and makes no mention of Judah or Jerusalem. Professor Lester L. Grabbe asserted that the "alleged decree of Cyrus" regarding Judah, "cannot be considered authentic", but that there was a "general policy of allowing deportees to return and to re-establish cult sites". He also stated that archaeology suggests that

1711-466: The biblical Book of Ezra , construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem began c.  537 BCE in the new Persian province of Yehud Medinata . All of these events are considered significant to the developed history and culture of the Jewish people , and ultimately had a far-reaching impact on the development of Judaism . Archaeological studies have revealed that, although the city of Jerusalem

1770-604: The city was systematically destroyed by fire. Archeological evidence also indicates that towns close to the kingdom's western border and small villages in Jerusalem's near vicinity were destroyed. Gedaliah , a Judean, was made governor of the remnant of Judah, the Yehud Province , with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah ( 2 Kings 25:22–24 ; Jeremiah 40:6–8 ). The Bible reports that, on hearing this news, Jews who had fled to Moab , Ammon , Edom , and in other countries returned to Judah ( Jeremiah 40:11–12 ). Gedaliah

1829-433: The city. Archaeological investigations and surveys have also revealed that, about the time the Babylonians came to besiege Jerusalem, the majority of towns surrounding Jerusalem and along the kingdom's western frontier were also completely destroyed. However, it is unclear if the array of outlying communities to the east and south of the kingdom were destroyed at that time or if it was a continuous process that occurred after

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1888-415: The city. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape but were captured on the plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah . There, Zedekiah's followers, including his own sons, were executed. After being forced to watch their executions, Zedekiah had his eyes gouged out and was taken captive to Babylon ( 2 Kings 25:1–7 ; 2 Chronicles 36:12 ; Jeremiah 32:4–5 ; 34:2–3 ; 39:1–7 ; 52:4–11 ), where he remained

1947-628: The context of dating the Book of Daniel . In 1929, Harold Rowley argued that its origin must be later than the 6th century BC and that the language was more similar to the targums than to the Imperial Aramaic documents available at his time. Others have argued that the language most closely resembles the 5th-century BC Elephantine papyri , and so is a good representative of typical Imperial Aramaic, including Jongtae Choi's doctoral dissertation at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School . Kenneth Kitchen takes an agnostic position and states that

2006-506: The emergence of scribes and sages as Jewish leaders (see Ezra ). Prior to exile, the people of Israel had been organized according to tribe. Afterwards, they were organized by smaller family groups. Only the Tribe of Levi continued in its temple role after the return. After this time, there were always sizable numbers of Jews living outside the Land of Israel ; thus, it also marks the beginning of

2065-405: The end of the siege, based on details from the Bible and neo-Babylonian sources for related events. Thiele's reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiah's reign on an accession basis, which he asserts was occasionally used for the kings of Judah. In that case, the year that Zedekiah came to the throne would be his zero th year; his first full year would be 597/596 BC, and his eleventh year,

2124-480: The exile as "spiritual regeneration" or "divine punishment for sins". One reason why wealthy Jews stayed in Mesopotamia includes economic opportunities, which were relatively uncommon in Judah. The exilic period was a rich source for Hebrew literature. Biblical depictions of the exile include Book of Jeremiah 39–43 (which saw the exile as a lost opportunity); the final section of 2 Kings (which portrays it as

2183-410: The following years, the court of Jerusalem was divided into two parties, one supporting Egypt, the other Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar was defeated in battle in 601 BCE by Egypt, Judah revolted against Babylon, culminating in a three-month siege of Jerusalem beginning in late 598 BCE. Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah ) at

2242-399: The inflections of the noun, adjective and verb. These are more highly inflected in classical Arabic , Babylonian and Ugaritic . For many centuries, from at least the time of Jerome of Stridon (d. 420), Biblical Aramaic was misnamed as "Chaldean" (Chaldaic, Chaldee). That label remained common in early Aramaic studies , and persisted up to the nineteenth century. The "Chaldean" misnomer

2301-486: The late 7th century BC, Judah became a vassal kingdom of Babylon. In 601 BC, Jehoiakim , king of Judah, revolted against Babylonian rule despite the strong remonstrances of the prophet Jeremiah . Jehoiakim died for reasons unclear, and was succeeded by his son, Jeconiah . In 597 BC, the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem , and the city surrendered. Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and deported Jeconiah and other prominent citizens to Babylon; Jeconiah's uncle, Zedekiah ,

2360-566: The line of the former High Priests of the Temple) and their construction of the Second Temple in the period from 521 to 516 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem, his capture of its king, his appointment of another in his place, and the plundering of the city in 597 BCE are corroborated by a passage in the Babylonian Chronicles : In the seventh year, in the month of Kislev, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to

2419-494: The pro-Babylonian party, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra . Nebuchadnezzar returned, defeated the Egyptians, and again besieged Jerusalem , resulting in the city's destruction in 587 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city wall and the Temple, together with the houses of the most important citizens. Zedekiah and his sons were captured and the sons were executed in front of Zedekiah, who

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2478-464: The relative periods for the end of the two sieges as Nebuchadnezzar's seventh and eighteenth years, respectively. (The same events are described at 2 Kings 24:12 and 2 Kings 25:8 as occurring in Nebuchadnezzar's eighth and nineteenth years, including his accession year.) Identification of Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year for the end of the siege places the event in the summer of 587 BC, which

2537-465: The return was a "trickle" taking place over decades, rather than a single event. As part of the Persian Empire , the former Kingdom of Judah became the province of Judah ( Yehud Medinata ) with different borders, covering a smaller territory. The population of the province was greatly reduced from that of the kingdom; archaeological surveys suggesting a population of around 30,000 people in

2596-515: The royal archives of Nebuchadnezzar. One of the tablets refers to food rations for "Ya’u-kīnu, king of the land of Yahudu" and five royal princes, his sons. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian forces returned in 589 BCE and rampaged through Judah, leaving clear archaeological evidence of destruction in many towns and settlements there. Clay ostraca from this period, referred to as the Lachish letters , were discovered during excavations; one, which

2655-630: The siege that culminated in Jerusalem's destruction in 587 BC are found in the Hebrew Bible . In 601 BC, during the fourth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar II unsuccessfully attempted to invade Egypt and was repulsed with heavy losses. The failure led to numerous rebellions among the Kingdoms of the Levant which owed allegiance to Babylon, including the Kingdom of Judah , where King Jehoiakim stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II and took

2714-606: The temporary end of history); 2 Chronicles (in which the exile is the "Sabbath of the land"); and the opening chapters of Ezra, which records its end. Other works from or about the exile include the stories in Daniel 1–6, Susanna , Bel and the Dragon , the "Story of the Three Youths" ( 1 Esdras 3:1–5:6), and the books of Tobit and Judith . The Book of Lamentations arose from the Babylonian captivity. The final redaction of

2773-644: The time before deportations. In Mesopotamia, the exiled Judeans were relocated to agricultural settlements, with one notable settlement being Tel-Abib near the city of Nippur . Biblical scholar Niels Peter Lemche suggests that the exiled Judeans experienced a lifestyle scarcely less prosperous than what they were accustomed to in their homeland. However, there is evidence for hardship. For example, exiled Jewish leaders were suspected of national disloyalty and were reduced to peasantry, where they worked in agriculture and building projects and performed simple tasks such as farming, shepherding and fishing. This ended when

2832-494: The year that Jerusalem fell, would be 587/586 BC. Since Judah's regnal years were counted from Tishri in autumn, that would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BC. The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle (BM 21946), published in 1956, indicates that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time putting an end to the reign of Jehoaichin , on 2  Adar (16 March) 597 BC, in Nebuchadnezzar's seventh year. Jeremiah 52:28–29 gives

2891-650: Was assassinated by Ishmael son of Nethaniah two months later, and the population that had remained and those who had returned then fled to Egypt for safety ( 2 Kings 25:25–26 , Jeremiah 43:5–7 ). In Egypt, they settled in Migdol (it is uncertain where the Bible is referring to here, probably somewhere in the Nile Delta ), Tahpanhes , Memphis (called Noph), and Pathros in the vicinity of Thebes ( Jeremiah 44:1 ). There has been some debate as to when Nebuchadnezzar's second siege of Jerusalem took place. According to

2950-440: Was burnt to rubble in 587 BCE and utterly destroyed. Archaeological excavations and surveys have enabled the population of Judah before the Babylonian destruction to be estimated to have been approximately 75,000. Taking the different biblical numbers of exiles at their highest, 20,000, this would mean that perhaps 25% of the population had been deported to Babylon, with the remaining majority staying in Judah. Although Jerusalem

3009-420: Was consequently abandoned, when further research showed conclusively that the Aramaic dialect used in the Hebrew Bible was not related to the ancient Chaldeans and their language . Babylonian captivity The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by

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3068-468: Was destroyed, with large parts of the city remaining in ruins for 150 years, numerous other settlements in Judah continued to be inhabited, with no signs of disruption visible in archaeological studies. Archaeologist Avraham Faust suggests that between the deportations and executions caused by the Babylonians, plus the famines and epidemics that occurred during the war, the population of Judah may have been reduced to as little as 10% of what it had been in

3127-473: Was installed as king. Later, encouraged by the Egyptians, Zedekiah launched a second revolt, and a Babylonian army was sent to retake Jerusalem. On Tisha B'Av , July 587 or 586 BC, the Babylonians took Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple and burned down the city. The small settlements surrounding the city, and those close to the western border of the kingdom, were destroyed as well. According to

3186-400: Was probably written to the commander at Lachish from an outlying base, describes how the signal fires from nearby towns were disappearing: "And may (my lord) be apprised that we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given, because we cannot see Azeqah." Archaeological finds from Jerusalem testify that virtually the whole city within the walls

3245-407: Was redacted during this time, and began to be regarded as the authoritative text for Jews. This period saw their transformation into an ethno-religious group who could survive without a central Temple. Israeli philosopher and Biblical scholar Yehezkel Kaufmann said "The exile is the watershed. With the exile, the religion of Israel comes to an end and Judaism begins." This process coincided with

3304-651: Was the beginning of the later numerous Jewish communities living permanently outside Judah in the Jewish Diaspora . According to the book of Ezra , the Persian Cyrus the Great ended the exile in 538 BCE, the year after he captured Babylon. The exile ended with the return under Zerubbabel the Prince (so-called because he was a descendant of the royal line of David ) and Joshua the Priest (a descendant of

3363-474: Was the final event of the Judahite revolts against Babylon , in which Nebuchadnezzar II , king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire , besieged Jerusalem , the capital city of the Kingdom of Judah . Jerusalem fell after a 30-month siege, following which the Babylonians systematically destroyed the city and Solomon's Temple . The Kingdom of Judah was dissolved and many of its inhabitants exiled to Babylon . During

3422-406: Was then blinded and taken to Babylon with many others (Jer 52:10–11). Judah became a Babylonian province, called Yehud , putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah (Because of the missing years in the Jewish calendar , rabbinic sources place the date of the destruction of the First Temple at 3338 AM (423 BCE) or 3358 AM (403 BCE)). The first governor appointed by Babylon was Gedaliah ,

3481-487: Was utterly destroyed, other parts of Judah continued to be inhabited during the period of the exile. Historical records from Mesopotamia and Jewish sources indicate that a significant portion of the Jewish population chose to remain in Mesopotamia. This decision led to the establishment of a sizable Jewish community in Mesopotamia known as the golah (dispersal), which persisted until modern times. The Iraqi Jewish , Persian Jewish , Georgian Jewish , Bukharian Jewish , and

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