The Catholic Verses <\/i><\/span><\/a>(pp. 181-190), and consider it a rather strong one. In a nutshell, the reasoning works as follows:<\/p>\n1) Grace saves us.<\/p>\n
2) Grace is the antithesis of sin and gives us the power to be holy and righteous and without sin.<\/p>\n
3) To be full of the grace (Luke 1:28) which gives us the power to be holy and righteous and without sin, is to be fully without sin, by that same grace.<\/p>\n
Now we must make some connection between Mary\u2019s conception or (failing that) at least sanctity from the womb, to provide some biblical rationale for her Immaculate Conception. The Bible doesn\u2019t directly <\/i><\/span>reveal anything in this respect about Mary. It informs us (through the mouth of the angel Gabriel) that she is \u201cfull of grace\u201d and that this state was present at the time of the Annunciation.<\/p>\nFrom that information alone, however, we can\u2019t tell how long <\/i><\/span>Mary had been full of grace and without sin. Therefore, that particular aspect has to be argued from analogy and plausibility. And I think that can be done as well.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s fairly easy to find examples of holy people who have been sanctified or made righteous from the womb, and even (in terms of God\u2019s foreordination or predestination) from before they were ever conceived. The Bible does refer to holiness being imparted even before birth; indeed, even before conception.<\/p>\n
Before we pursue that line of thought, let\u2019s step back a bit and note that the biblical writers are fully aware of the notion of conception itself. And this presupposes that a person (with a soul; otherwise he or she is no person) is in existence from that time (e.g., Genesis 25:21; Numbers 5:28; 2 Samuel 11:5; Job 3:3; Psalm 51:5; Song of Solomon 8:2; Luke 2:21; Romans 9:10).<\/p>\n
Does the Bible, moreover, refer to people being called from the womb for His purposes? Yes; Samson was one such person:<\/p>\n
Judges 16:17<\/b> (RSV)\u00a0<\/span>And he told her all his mind, and said to her, \u201cA razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother\u2019s womb. If I be shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.\u201d<\/p>\nA Nazirite was a person who separated himself and was specially consecrated to God: one who made special vows that went beyond the ordinary requirements of the Law. But we know that Samson was not without sin, so his example suffices only to show that being called by God before birth is not unknown in Holy Scripture. The same notion occurs in relation to Isaiah the prophet:<\/p>\n
Isaiah 49:1, 5 <\/b><\/span>. . . The LORD called me from the womb, . . . [5] And now the LORD says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength \u2013<\/p>\nWe find the same in the book of Job:<\/p>\n
Job 31:15, 18 <\/b><\/span>Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? . . . (for from his youth I reared him as a father, and from his mother\u2019s womb I guided him);<\/p>\nWe also observe in Sacred Scripture that God has plans for His servants from even before <\/i><\/span>they were conceived (God being out of time in the first place):<\/p>\nPsalm 139:13-16 <\/b><\/span>For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb. [14] I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful. Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well; [15] my frame was not hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. [16] Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance; in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.<\/p>\nThus, the idea that a person is somehow spiritually formed and molded by God and called from the very time of their conception (and before) is an explicit biblical concept. But we can produce even more than that: having to do also with holiness. The prophet Jeremiah reported the Lord\u2019s revelation to him (as confirmed by another writer of Scripture):<\/p>\n
Jeremiah 1:5 <\/b><\/span>\u201cBefore I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.\u201d (KJV: \u201csanctified thee\u201d)<\/p>\nSirach 49:7 <\/b><\/span>. . . he had been consecrated in the womb as prophet, . . .<\/p>\n\u201cConsecrated\u201d or \u201csanctified\u201d in Jeremiah 1:5 is the Hebrew word quadash <\/i><\/span>(Strong\u2019s word #6942). According to Gesenius\u2019 Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament <\/i><\/span>(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979 reprint, p. 725), in this instance it meant \u201cto declare any one holy.\u201d Gesenius applies this particular meaning also to the temple:<\/p>\n1 Kings 9:3 <\/b><\/span>And the LORD said to him, \u201cI have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before me; I have consecrated this house which you have built, and put my name there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.\u201d<\/p>\nHere are a few more related appearances of the word:<\/p>\n
Exodus 29:42-43 <\/b><\/span>. . . the door of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you. [43] There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory;<\/p>\nIsaiah 5:16 <\/b><\/span>But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.<\/p>\nEzekiel 20:12 <\/b><\/span>Moreover I gave them my sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I the LORD sanctify them.<\/p>\nJeremiah was thus consecrated or sanctified from the womb; possibly from conception (the text is somewhat vague as to the exact time). This is fairly analogous to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. It approximates it. We know Jeremiah was a very holy man. Was he sinless<\/i><\/span>, though? Perhaps he was. I don\u2019t recall reading accounts of Jeremiah sinning.<\/p>\nWe know, after all, that the Bible is very frank about exposing sins where they existed (David\u2019s adultery, Noah\u2019s drunkenness, Moses\u2019 murder, Isaiah\u2019s \u201cunclean lips,\u201d Elijah\u2019s and Jonah\u2019s lapses of faith, Doubting Thomas, Peter\u2019s betrayals, Paul\u2019s persecutions, etc.). Therefore, though the lack of such an account of sin does not prove <\/i><\/span>sinlessness, it is consistent <\/i><\/span>with its possibility<\/i><\/span>.<\/p>\nThe retort at this point might be that there is a lack of such a notion in the New Testament. But that\u2019s not true. We have the example of John the Baptist:<\/p>\n
Luke 1:15 <\/b><\/span>for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother\u2019s womb.<\/p>\nLuke 1:41, 44 <\/b><\/span>And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. . . For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy.<\/p>\nWe know that John the Baptist was also a very holy man. Was he sinless? We can\u2019t know that for sure <\/i><\/span>from the biblical data. I don\u2019t recall any mention of a sin from John the Baptist, in Scripture. St. Catherine of Siena, for one, believed that he never sinned (A Treatise of Prayer<\/i><\/span>). But we know that he was sanctified from the womb. And that forms some plausible analogy to the Immaculate Conception. Lastly, St. Paul refers to being called before he was born:<\/p>\nGalatians 1:15 <\/b><\/span>. . . he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace,<\/p>\nTherefore, by analogy and plausibility, based on many biblical cross-references, we can and may conclude that it is \u201cbiblical\u201d and reasonable to believe in faith that Mary was immaculately conceived. Nothing in the Bible contradicts <\/i><\/span>this belief. And there is much that suggests various elements of it, as we have seen. It does require faith<\/i><\/span>, of course, but based on the biblical data alone it is not an unreasonable or \u201cunbiblical\u201d belief at all.<\/p>\nHer sinlessness is taught in Luke 1:28, so we need only extrapolate the sinlessness back into the womb (which is easy to do), and with regard to original sin as well (not as easy, assuredly, but not impossible <\/i><\/span>to imagine, either).<\/p>\nIf God calls and predestines people for a specific purpose from all eternity, from before they were ever born, as David states and as Jeremiah strongly implies, then what inherent <\/i><\/span>difficulty is there in His sanctifying a very important person in salvation history, centrally involved in the Incarnation, from conception?<\/p>\nThe possibility simply can\u2019t be ruled out. And if God can call Jeremiah and John the Baptist from the womb and (possibly) from conception, why not Mary as well? The one case is no less plausible than the other, and so we believe <\/i><\/span>it, by analogy.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s not foreign to biblical thinking, and makes perfect sense. According to the Catholic Church, God restored to Mary the innocence of Eve before the Fall, and filled her with grace, in order to prepare her for her unspeakably sublime, sanctified task as the Mother of God the Son. Why should He not <\/i><\/span>do so?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
. . . from Analogy and Plausibility Immaculate Conception (c. 1618), by\u00a0Diego Vel\u00e1zquez (1599\u20131660) [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons] From my book, \u201cThe Catholic Mary\u201d: Quite Contrary to the Bible? * * * * * Neither the notion nor the fact of a sinless created being is impossible. The angels (excepting the fallen ones, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":5406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[2357,46,503,2356,1620],"class_list":["post-5405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-blessed-virgin-mary","tag-immaculate-conception","tag-marian-doctrine","tag-mariology","tag-mary-of-nazareth"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mary's Immaculate Conception: A Biblical Argument","description":"By analogy and plausibility, based on many passages, we may conclude that it is \u201cbiblical\u201d to believe in faith that Mary was immaculately conceived.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mary's Immaculate Conception: A Biblical Argument","og_description":"By analogy and plausibility, based on many passages, we may conclude that it is \u201cbiblical\u201d to believe in faith that Mary was immaculately conceived.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_published_time":"2016-01-07T17:01:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-04-03T20:45:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":561,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/01\/Mary27.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html","name":"Mary's Immaculate Conception: A Biblical Argument","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-07T17:01:18+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-03T20:45:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"By analogy and plausibility, based on many passages, we may conclude that it is \u201cbiblical\u201d to believe in faith that Mary was immaculately conceived.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/marys-immaculate-conception-a-biblical-argument.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mary’s Immaculate Conception: A Biblical Argument"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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