Sermon Title: Psalm 8
Text: Psalm 8
Location: Gateway Church
Date: 8/1/2021
Speaker: Justin Stiles
You can find the sermon notes here.
Good morning, church! I’m glad to be with you this morning, whether you’re joining us at County Road 9, North Main, or online. My name is Justin Stiles, and I serve as one of your elders. For those that I don’t know, I’m married to Anne, and we have five children in our family. We have Easton, Elyse, and Chandler, and we started fostering two brothers several weeks ago: Robert and Randy. It’s an honor to spend time in God’s Word with you. We’ve had some staff members and elders begin preaching from the Psalms this year. Cody Ohnmeiss taught from Psalm 7 at the end of May. Today, we look at Psalm 8, and next week, Matt Heft, a fellow elder, will teach from Psalm 9.
I was excited to learn that I was going to cover Psalm 8. I was first introduced to this psalm when I was a student at Ohio Northern University, as a member of our Gospel Ensemble. We sang a song called, you guessed it, Psalm 8. If you’re not familiar with traditional gospel music, songwriters will often take text from Scripture and write music to then sing the text. The key passages then might be sung repeatedly in a refrain or chorus. What better way to praise God, then the words of praise found in the Bible, right?! The arrangement that we sang in our Gospel Ensemble ended by singing the phrase “Lord, how excellent is thy name!” many times over, and often with an upward modulating key. It was one of my favorite gospel songs that we sang!
I’m sure that most of us on occasion have looked in awe at the stars, maybe staring at them for a few seconds or minutes, maybe on a camping trip or a nighttime walk. [Media: Begin night sky photo sequence.] But, have you ever really had the opportunity to really star-gaze? Have you ever been somewhere remote, away from the light of a city, and looked upon the night sky there? How much more breathtaking is the night sky in a place where there is nothing obscuring your view? David may have been writing this psalm at night, given the language he used; there is no mention of daylight here (Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the Old and New Testaments. (Ann Arbor: Cushing – Malloy, 1979), 66.). Is there not a time like the nighttime, especially outside, and especially in the country somewhere, to contemplate the grandeur and enormity of God’s creation? What do you think that nature or creation is pointing us to? If you’re unsure about God, even the enormity of the universe may cause you to reflect about life’s purpose and what creation is all about. Well in this psalm, David shows us what the beauty and vastness of creation is pointing us to. And it’s not actually a “what.” It’s a “who.” [Media: End night sky photo sequence. Back to message.]
Let’s go ahead and read Psalm 8:
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
This is a psalm written by David. The introduction says, “To the Choirmaster, according to the Gittith.” Biblical scholars believe that the gittith was some sort of instrument common to the Gittite people, but we don’t know if it was a stringed or wind instrument. If any of you brought your gittith to church, please let me know! Whatever the instrument was, it was intended to be played joyously. Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise, a hymn of praise to God, our glorious creator! This psalm is telling God how majestic and wonderful He is, so it should be read, prayed, or sung joyously!
We don’t know exactly when David wrote this song, or for what occasion. Biblical scholars have posited three different possibilities: 1) David bringing the ark to Obed-edom (2 Chronicles 13:12-14); 2) David taking possession of Mount Zion (2 Samuel 5:7); or 3) David defeating Goliath (1 Samuel 18) (Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the Old and New Testaments. (Ann Arbor: Cushing – Malloy, 1979), 65). There is nothing in the text that directly speaks to which event in David’s life he was thinking about when he wrote this. What we may know about the passage, as I talked about earlier, is that David may have written this at night.
Psalm 8:1
The psalm opens with an exclamation (v.1a) and a description of God’s glory.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Here, David is praising God! He’s highlighting the majesty and excellence and glory of God. We will see why later, but David is focusing on God’s absolute goodness. He uses the word “majestic,” a word used to convey the royalty and might of God. God is mighty in his judgment. In 1 Samuel 4:8, we read: Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the mighty gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Here, the Philistines were commenting on the judgment of the Egyptians; they did not understand that it was the God, rather than gods, who brought this judgment on the Egyptians. God is mighty in his law. We see in Isaiah 42:21: The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. The law itself as revealed by God to his people is glorious. Isaiah the prophet is highlighting that the fall of Israel is not because of God or his law, but the failure of Israel to follow God’s glorious law (The English Standard Version Study Bible. (Wheaton: Crossway), Footnote on Isaiah 42:20-22, 23-25.). God is mighty in his rule over creation as we see in this passage and in Psalm 9. All of creation reveals the power and glory of God’s name, as we see in Romans 1:20: For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without an excuse. So, when we praise God, as David did, we can joyously exclaim that praise because of God’s majesty (Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 5. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 110.).
Psalm 8:2
In verse 2 (Psalm 8), David says this:
2Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
David here is giving God glory because of how He works in and through His creation. We can look at this passage in a couple of ways. God established his strength and glory through his creation. Even babies and children are sufficient enough to reveal God’s glory,in the beauty of their creation. Further, we can also discuss how weak men are, that they could be compared to infants, relatives to the enemies that they face. David and the Israelites faced many foes who were much stronger and powerful than they were. God could have, in his power, overtaken and subdued Israel’s enemies on his own. Instead, God employed the Israelites, as weak as they were, to overcome their enemies. God grants great honor to us by making us the means of overthrowing our enemies! The wicked can and will establish themselves, but they cannot silence the glory of God (Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the Old and New Testaments. (Ann Arbor: Cushing – Malloy, 1979), 67-68.)
Psalm 8:3
David then says, in verses 3-4 (Psalm 8):
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
We are reminded of the creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:3. God created the heavens and the earth, then started giving form and function to the created world that we see. And he spoke it all into existence from nothing. How amazing?! This should cause us to praise God our Creator! After God established the heavens and earth, the stars, the sun, the moon, the waters, the lands, the plants, the birds, the fish, and the animals – after all of that – God came to the pinnacle of His creation: mankind! Genesis 1:26-27 says:
26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
Psalm 8:4
And David asks in verse 4: (Psalm 8)
4what is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
This is such an important question upon which to reflect. God’s creation is vast, complex, intricate, awesome, and indescribably beautiful. Just that alone like I said before should inspire praise of God the Creator. But then, look at mankind, look at us, in comparison to all of creation. What are we, in comparison to some our fellow creatures on earth? I know that we humans can and have done some astonishing things. But, let’s look at us relative to all of God’s creation. We’re not the fastest being. We’re not the strongest being. We cannot fly. We can barely swim. We cannot hibernate (well, I suppose that one is debatable for some) to survive a long winter (although we wish we could). We cannot survive many of the natural elements like some of the birds, fish, and animals can. I mean, cockroaches can survive fires, floods, earthquakes, and can even survive for up to a month without food! And we thought we were tough! Do we shine as brightly or as beautifully as any of the starry hosts? Who would choose us over the marvelous galaxies that God created? We came from the dust, and back to the dust our bodies go when we pass from this life. Why did God choose to give us any favor, over any of the rest of our creation? While the answer to this question remains a mystery, we just know that God chose to give us favor. And yet, despite our inadequacies relative to God’s creation, despite our fleeting nature, despite our fragility, God remembers us. God is mindful of us. God takes special interest in us. God could have easily created us and forgotten us, but He did not. God, our Heavenly Father, cares for us and loves us beyond measure, and is continually concerned for our well-being (Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 5. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 112.) This question is echoed elsewhere by David and others in the Bible. Psalm 144:3 says:
O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
David recognized, as we should as well, that it’s incomprehensible at times that God is mindful of us! David is well aware of his sins and the sins of his fellow man, so then, why should God still care for him? God should visit us with judgment, but His compassion causes him to extend his grace and goodness to all of us (Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 5. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 112.). Matthew 5:45b says:
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Everyone and everything are under God’s care and compassion.
Psalm 8:5:
And even more than creating men and women as His cherished creation, David says of God in verse 5: (Psalm 8):
5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
God made us a little lower than the heavenly beings. We are distinguished from the rest of the creatures on earth. God gave us morality, creativity, reason, language, and the capacity for relationship and commitment. God made us and crowned us with glory and honor, but we are not divine like the angels in heaven. We are not beast, but celestial, as we were created in God’s image. And, we are God’s representatives here on earth, ruling over creation. The royalty we have is given to us, and not innate in us. This crown of glory, this dignity, is a gift from God, and should make us feel responsible and it should also cause us to respond in praise to Him (Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 5. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 113.).
Psalm 8:6
In verse 6 (Psalm 8), we see that David says,
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
Again, if we look back at Genesis, we are reminded that God gave man dominion over His creation on earth. Genesis 1:26 says:
26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
By God giving us dominion and rule over his creation, He showed us the high degree of dignity and worth that He’s given us. God could have made us like his other creatures, and we would’ve roamed about like the animals. But instead, God abundantly poured out his favor on us, giving us a role as His royal representative here on earth. This role was given to us before the fall of man, and God didn’t revoke it after the fall. Though we’re broken due to sin, God still crowns us with glory. We’re still in our place governing and ruling over the earth. Although, the relationship between subjects and rulers is slightly different (WillemA. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 5. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 112.). In Genesis 9:1-3, 7 God speaks to Noah:
1And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. 3And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything…7And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
God gave Noah and his family the command to be fruitful and multiply, as he commanded to Adam and Eve. God gave Noah all the animals, birds, fish, and plants of the world to rule over and use for his good. This time, creation will fear and dread man, likely due to the state of man’s heart (The English Standard Version Study Bible. (Wheaton: Crossway), Footnote on Genesis 9:1-4.). Sin caused man to fall and to become violent against God and against each other; man’s ugliness causes the rest of creation to now dread being under his rule. Nevertheless, God still tells mankind to be fruitful and multiply, and to increase greatly. Man’s position of authority after the fall and after the flood was maintained by God.
While David’s original intent of this song was not messianic, we can see parallels to Jesus in this psalm, especially as it’s quoted elsewhere in Scripture about Jesus. Hebrews 2:5-7 says:
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere:
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection to his feet.
Here, we again see God’s exalted care for mankind. While David refers to man’s descendants in Psalm 8:4 when he says, “son of man,” when this is quoted in Hebrews, the author here is also referencing Christ. Christ is the truest representative of God on earth. He lived a perfectly obedient life, he died on the cross as the penalty for our sin, and he was resurrected from death. All of creation on earth was under man’s stewardship, and while it still is, man’s rule is imperfect due to our sin. However, because of the this, Jesus was crowned with glory and honor – and we see that in Hebrews 2:9:
9But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
So, while we’re given glory and honor by God, the glory and honor conferred to Jesus was far greater because he was obedient, even to death on a cross. And because of Jesus’ sacrifice, God the Father put everything under Jesus’ rule and authority.
Psalm 8:7-8
As we head into the last section of Psalm 8, we can further reflect on how magnificent it is that God conferred dominion to us. Verses 7-8 (Psalm 8) say:
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field – this can be taken to mean all the land-based animals – all flocks and herds. All animals are subjected to man’s use and will. If we think about some of the animals that are out there, it is rather remarkable that we indeed can subdue them. When you think about some animals out there and how you would fare one-on-one with them, it doesn’t look good! [Media: Begin rhinoceros photo.] One-on-one with a rhinoceros? No, thank you! [Media: Begin lion photo.] I’m a runner, but I don’t think I could outrun a lion! [Media: Begin spider photo.] Me versus a room of spiders…nope…just burn that house down! [Media: Back to message.] Yet, while solo encounters with some animals could truly be terrifying, humans have the abilities, power, and skills to subdue animals – to capture them, to make them subservient, and to tame them. I cannot imagine what it was like for Noah to herd all the animals into the ark. But now, we have wildlife habitats and zoos all over the place where we get to enjoy all sorts of animals in our leisure time! And there are so many animals that are stronger and larger than we are! But then think about the cunning we possess to make animals do what we want them to do, no matter how dangerous, poisonous, or scary they are! The dominion we have over creation is even more impressive when you think about the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. [Media: Begin bird and whale photos, about 3sec./photo.] Those creatures are seemingly out of reach being so high in the sky or in the depths of the oceans, yet we have found ways to see them and subdue them as well. [Media: End bird/whale photos, back to message.] Think about how high and fast we can fly in airplanes or other winged devices. Just over the last month, we have had two people venture into outer space. I don’t know if Pastor Josh is interested in going to space for a sabbatical, but if he is, hopefully the tickets are a few million dollars cheaper by then! Think about how fast and how deep we can go in submarines or other aqueous vehicles. And now, we have all sorts of drones that can reach places we as humans have not been able to visit yet to learn more about birds, fish, and other animals and their environments. We have even put tiny robots and cameras on bugs to find out their secrets! Fortunately, for most of us today, our days are not spent out-running, out-swimming, or taking cover from animals; we have learned how to live in the homes and cities we have built.
Now, the dominion that God has given to men is not limited to ruling over the animals, birds, and fish for good and for our purposes. God has given humans reign over the earth, over our environment. Genesis 1:28 says:
28And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This verse tells us that God planned for the earth to be filled by men and women who followed him and that would serve as God-fearing representatives on earth. God commands us to subject the land and its resources so that it will yield fruitful service to ourselves and our neighbors. What flows out of this edict is technological creativity and advancement. Now, due to the fall of man and sin entering the world, we could build quite the extensive list of examples of men and women exploiting natural resources for greed or power or other nefarious reasons. However, God expects us to wisely govern the earth, to wisely use its resources, to wisely make scientific discoveries and advances, and to allow the fruit of our labor to benefit our fellow man. Think of the many, many ways humans have used their God-given ingenuity and creativity to make life-altering and life-saving discoveries! [Media: Begin city scape photos.] Think about the cities we have built where we live, work, and play. Have you ever been in a city and just looked out and up? How did we figure out how to make buildings and structures so large and expansive, and for such different purposes? We have churches...schools…office buildings...restaurants...stores...shopping malls...stadiums…theaters...subways...factories...parks...airports...and so much more! And the machinery and the tools we have for construction – have you ever had the opportunity to watch equipment operators, masons, electricians, or welders at work? It is astonishing what they can build! [Media: End city scape photos, back to message.] We can make tiny homes no bigger than a bedroom, and we can make skyscrapers over a thousand feet high! And now, it can almost be unimpressive if you don’t build a building that high if you are building another skyscraper in a city! Think about how people in David’s day had to travel – largely by foot, or by chariot if you were part of the military or elite. [Media: Begin highway interchange photo. Keep it up until x-ray photo.] Now, think about the many ways and many miles we can cover in a single hour or a single day! It is rather remarkable how mobile we’ve become since David wrote this psalm. We have bicycles, cars, trains, airplane. We even have hoverboards! [Media: Begin x-ray photo. Keep it up until farm photo.] Think about advances in medicine we’ve made in a few thousand years. Common ailments like a sore tooth could spell disaster for a person in ancient times. Now, we can 3-D print replacement organs! We can give the gift of hearing to a child who has never heard a sound before. And, we can repair bones to better than new, which I have personally witnessed at my house too many times now thanks to a certain orthopedic surgeon in our midst here! [Media: Begin farm photo. Keep it up until technology photo.] We can grow food for the thousands and millions – we have some really gifted agricultural geniuses that know our lands and livestock really well. And, they how to produce the food that we enjoy at a scale probably unthinkable in David’s days! By show of hands at our campuses or by chatting online, who is thinking about going out to eat for lunch after church, or picking some food up? A lot of us probably are! Do you ever think about all of the effort it takes to get the food in your carryout containers? Some of you might be feasting on some Italian bread directly from Italy. David would not have been able to rely on imported Italian bread in his time! [Media: Begin technology photo.] The invention of computing and communications technologies have hastened advances for humanity in ways David and his contemporaries could probably not even dream of in their time. In the span of a few minutes, many of us can take notes on a sermon, order food from an app to have it ready to go by lunch time, and video chat with our parents as we walk out of here. We have cables and satellites beaming billions of bits over land, sea, and air so that we can navigate to our destinations, or watch a viral video of a Zoom-filter gone wrong for the tenth time. [Media: End technology photo, back to message.] God told us to be fruitful and multiply and to govern the earth. He did not tell us how to do it, but praise be to God for the gifts that He has given us that we could create and cultivate in such beautiful ways!
Psalm 8:9
David ends the psalm the same way he begins it, in verse 9: (Psalm 8)
9O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
David repeats the exclamation, the praise of God, of Yahweh, that he used at the beginning of the psalm. And that is in part what I’d like for us to take away from this psalm. The psalms are a songbook of praise from God’s people to God our Creator. These passages can help us to express love and adoration toward God, to express our need for help in times of trouble, to lament, and to celebrate God’s creation and order. In Psalm 8, we’re reminded that God is glorious, God is majestic, God is excellent. We are reminded that God’s glory is revealed even as we are infants, and even in our moments of weaknesses when we come up against literal or figurative foes or obstacles.
We’re reminded about the creation story found in Genesis, and that God’s creation is beautiful. [Media: Begin God’s creation / nature photo sequence.] Just look at these photos from around the globe at different places and scenes. When we encounter such places near or far, I want us to be in awe of what God created here on earth, and be in awe of His beauty and goodness. Many of us may not get to gaze upon some of these places around the world, but God’s beauty and design are not just for the remote corners of the world, but here, too. [Media: End God’s creation / nature photo sequence. Back to message.] And remember not just this passage, but we can also look at other Scripture to help us praise God for what He’s done, like Psalm 19:1: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. After God created the heavens and the earth, He created humans. God didn’t just put us into the fold and say, “good luck!” God gave us dominion of His creation on earth. He charged us with rule over all the creatures of the land, air, and sea. God charged us with working the land, discovering the resources He gave us, and using them benevolently for ourselves and for each other. And when you think about all of this, pause. Pausing is not something that is woven into our routine or our culture. Pausing and contemplating the goodness and beauty of God is not something we tend to practice often, but a passage like Psalm 8 can help us do exactly that.
David asks in this passage - Why us, God? What about us makes You so interested in us, a creature so weak or so shabby compared to some the other creatures on earth or compared to some of Your celestial creations? Here, we may feel some resistance in ourselves or in our culture. Because we are uniquely gifted as humans compared to the animals, bird, and fish – beings with intellect, reason, cunning, and feeling - culture places a premium on us and pays no deference to the God. Culture can tell us that the abilities and authorities we have aren’t bestowed upon us by the God or a god, but that they are simply natural to us or that we earn them on our own. And as Christians, we can sometimes feel like God just dropped us off and He’s never picking us up. He’s just left us here to figure things out on our own. However, as we’ve seen and read, God our Creator, God our Father, takes a continuous interest in our lives, because He loves us. And, God created us in His image. [Media: Begin people photo sequence.] That means that it was no accident, but rather God’s design, that He created us for relationship, for community, for togetherness. The way we organize our families, our churches, our schools, our communities – they best function when we do them together and with love for one another. And think about the best moments you have had with family members or friends – whether it has been through tears, laughter, or both – God gave us the ability and the desire to connect with another, and that is simply beautiful. [Media: End people photo sequence. Back to message.]
And, we further see evidence of God’s love for us in His Son, Jesus. Jesus came to earth and lived a perfectly obedient life here, obedient to the point of death, something you and I are incapable of doing. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is what we’ll be remembering as take communion together in a few minutes. God gave Jesus a crown of glory and put everything under Jesus’ authority, so we can rest in that truth and that grace. So, while there is a wonderful mystery in exactly why God grants us such honor and dignity, even in our sin, we can rest in the truth that God did give us dignity. God did give us a crown of glory. He did give us a purpose and responsibility on His earth. And God loves us beyond measure, beyond just putting us in charge here, but enough to rescue us from the power of sin and death through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
So, when you feel grateful for what God has done for you, read this psalm to help you express your praise to God. When you have a miracle in your life, remember our God who orchestrated it to happen. When you want to appreciate God’s creation and the order He has established, go to this passage. Take some time to marvel at God’s creation, as David did. Reflect on God’s goodness, beauty, and majesty. Let’s pray.
God, how majestic is your name in all the earth! We marvel at Your creation, God, and are in awe of how You have created the heavens and the earth. The evidence of Your glory is all around us in Your creation, and we are thankful that we get to enjoy it. We’re so insignificant, God, yet you love us and give us worth and dignity. You’ve charged us with the great responsibility of caring and ruling for the earth you created. Help us Lord to be good stewards of Your creation and to be good representatives of you here on earth. Thank you, Father, for the special favor you’ve given to us in the order of Your creation. May we not boast about the crown of glory You have given us, but sing and boast about You instead. Let us boast about the name of Jesus, whose crown of glory outshines anything we have done or could do. We are grateful for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and how that gives us the gift of life. Amen.
If you are in need of prayer, please come to the front where there will be prayer teams available, and they would love to pray with you. As you go, receive this prayer of blessing - may the wonder of creation cause you to praise our Creator. Amen. Gateway Church, you are sent.
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