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#989 - Exodus 33 – Moses and the Lord · The Bible Study Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. The Bible Study Podcast, Episode 989. Today, the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Study Podcast continues the study of the book of
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  Speaker 1: Exodus with Chapter 33. Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Chris Christensen. We're going to continue on
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  Speaker 1: with Chapter 33 after this big incident with the golden calf,
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  Speaker 1: But first a word from this sponsor. Exodus 33 Then
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  Speaker 1: the Lord said to Moses, Leave this place, you and
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  Speaker 1: the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go
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  Speaker 1: to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants.
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  Speaker 1: I will send an angel before you to drive out
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  Speaker 1: the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go up
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  Speaker 1: to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I
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  Speaker 1: will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people,
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  Speaker 1: and I might destroy you on the way. When the
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  Speaker 1: people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn, and
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  Speaker 1: no one put on any ornaments. For the Lord had
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  Speaker 1: said to Moses, Tell the Israelites you are a stiff-necked people.
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  Speaker 1: If I were to go with you, even for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, and
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  Speaker 1: I will decide what to do with you. So the
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  Speaker 1: Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb. Now, it's interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Why are they stripping off their ornaments? Well, you may
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  Speaker 1: remember that it was the ornaments that they used to
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  Speaker 1: make the golden calf. So that certainly could be something
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  Speaker 1: related to this. Certainly could be a reminder of what
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  Speaker 1: they just did. But this is not good news. They're
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  Speaker 1: told that he won't go with them because he might
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  Speaker 1: destroy them. There's definitely a fear of God, awesome God
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  Speaker 1: sort of moment here. And they're still going to be
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  Speaker 1: sent with the angel who's going to drive out all
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  Speaker 1: of the other people, the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Pezzorites, and
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  Speaker 1: all of them. So it's not that the plan has changed,
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  Speaker 1: but God is still a little bit mad at them.
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  Speaker 1: And they were distressed. These were distressing words. Continuing on,
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  Speaker 1: the Tent of Meeting. Now Moses used to take a
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  Speaker 1: tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away,
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  Speaker 1: calling it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone inquiring of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.
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  Speaker 1: And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the
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  Speaker 1: people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents,
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  Speaker 1: watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went
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  Speaker 1: into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down
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  Speaker 1: and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses.
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  Speaker 1: Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at
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  Speaker 1: the entrance of the tent, they all stood and worshiped
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  Speaker 1: each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would
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  Speaker 1: speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to
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  Speaker 1: a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but
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  Speaker 1: his young aide Joshua, son of Nun, did not leave
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  Speaker 1: the tent. So we already have the rise of the
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  Speaker 1: importance of Joshua, and Joshua will eventually take over from Moses,
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  Speaker 1: so that's not too surprising. And Joshua will be a
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  Speaker 1: great leader, but that would be in the book of Joshua,
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  Speaker 1: so we won't get to that in this study. But
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  Speaker 1: this tent of meeting here, which I think is the
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  Speaker 1: same as the tabernacle here, because we're basically meeting God there,
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  Speaker 1: which is what the purpose of the tabernacle is. But
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  Speaker 1: Moses is going out to this tent of meeting, and
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  Speaker 1: it's pitched away from the camp. It's not pitched in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the camp. And it's pitched away from
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  Speaker 1: the camp, and people can see Moses going out there.
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  Speaker 1: And so they're wondering at this point, I would guess,
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  Speaker 1: what it is God's going to tell them. And so
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  Speaker 1: they're worshiping, But they're also probably sitting there wondering, possibly stewing,
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  Speaker 1: maybe nervous. Who knows? Depends on what's going on as
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  Speaker 1: Moses goes to this tent of meeting. And I love
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  Speaker 1: this thing that the Lord would speak to Moses face
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  Speaker 1: to face as one speaks to a friend. Now, of course, traditionally,
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  Speaker 1: this was written, these first five books were attributed to Moses.
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  Speaker 1: So Moses is telling us this according to the tradition.
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  Speaker 1: And that is a very cool thing because we don't
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  Speaker 1: think of this God of the Old Testament here, this
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  Speaker 1: God who the people are afraid of, as this speaking
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  Speaker 1: to someone as a friend. But we see in this
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  Speaker 1: some of the presence of God that we'll see more
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  Speaker 1: clearly later on in Jesus, obviously. Moses and the glory
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. Moses said to the Lord, you have
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  Speaker 1: been telling me, lead these people, but you have not
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  Speaker 1: let me know whom you will send with me. You
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  Speaker 1: have said, I know you by name and you have
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  Speaker 1: found favor with me. If you are pleased with me,
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  Speaker 1: teach me your ways so that I may know you
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  Speaker 1: and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this
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  Speaker 1: nation is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will
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  Speaker 1: go with you and I will give you rest. Then
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  Speaker 1: Moses said to him, if your presence does not go
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  Speaker 1: with us, do not send us up from here. How
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  Speaker 1: will anyone know that you are pleased with me and
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  Speaker 1: your people unless you go with us? What else will
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  Speaker 1: distinguish me and your people from all the other people
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  Speaker 1: on the face of the earth? And the Lord said
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  Speaker 1: to Moses, I will do the very thing you have
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  Speaker 1: asked because I am pleased with you and I know
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  Speaker 1: you by name. Then Moses said, now show me your glory.
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  Speaker 1: And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness
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  Speaker 1: to pass in front of you and I will proclaim
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  Speaker 1: my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have
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  Speaker 1: mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have
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  Speaker 1: compassion on whom I will have compassion. But he said,
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  Speaker 1: you cannot see my face for no one can see
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  Speaker 1: me and live. Then the Lord said, there is a
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  Speaker 1: place nearby where you may stand on a rock. When
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  Speaker 1: my glory passes by, I will put you in a
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  Speaker 1: cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand
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  Speaker 1: until I have passed by. Then I will remove my
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  Speaker 1: hand and you will see my back, but my face
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  Speaker 1: must not be seen. So Moses, again, having one of
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  Speaker 1: these conversations with the Lord, apparently one of these conversations
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  Speaker 1: as with a friend, and he's saying, you really need
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  Speaker 1: to go with us. You really need to go with us. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: how will we be different from any other people? And
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  Speaker 1: the Lord says, okay, I will do that because I'm
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  Speaker 1: pleased with you. I'm pleased with Moses, and I know
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  Speaker 1: you by name. And then Moses asked this thing, I
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  Speaker 1: want to see the presence of God. I want to
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  Speaker 1: see you, and I want to see you face to face.
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  Speaker 1: If we're on such good terms, I want to see
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  Speaker 1: your face. And God says, you can't. because you can't
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  Speaker 1: see my face and live. But I also like this line,
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  Speaker 1: I will cause all my goodness to pass in front
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  Speaker 1: of you. When he asked to see God's glory, God
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  Speaker 1: responds with his goodness. Now, when we think of glory
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  Speaker 1: and when people think of glory, we don't usually think
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  Speaker 1: of goodness. We don't think of people who are glory
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  Speaker 1: seekers as seeking goodness, right? Those are two very different things.
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  Speaker 1: but it is the goodness of God that is glorious.
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  Speaker 1: And so God is a compassionate God, a merciful God
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  Speaker 1: who I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
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  Speaker 1: of compassion on whom I will have compassion. I'll cause
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  Speaker 1: all my goodness to pass in front of you and
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  Speaker 1: I will proclaim my name. So that implies that if
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  Speaker 1: we are people of God, we're not called to seek
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  Speaker 1: glory in the world's definition of glory, but we're called
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  Speaker 1: to seek goodness, to practice goodness, to be good to
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  Speaker 1: those around us, to be providing mercy and compassion to
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  Speaker 1: the people around us. And so God puts Moses in
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  Speaker 1: a cleft in the rock and then covers him with
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  Speaker 1: his hand and then he passes by and Moses gets
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  Speaker 1: to see just his back. And even that experience we'll
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  Speaker 1: see in a next chapter has a change in on
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  Speaker 1: the appearance of Moses, as a change on Moses. Because
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  Speaker 1: just even that experience of seeing the back of God
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  Speaker 1: is a transformative experience. The more we spend time with God,
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  Speaker 1: the more we spend time in Bible study, in prayer,
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  Speaker 1: in community, in worship, the more we too are transformed
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  Speaker 1: by that experience. The New Testament says part of the
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  Speaker 1: job of the Holy Spirit is to transform us to
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  Speaker 1: be more like God, to sanctify us, to make us holy,
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  Speaker 1: to make us set apart for God's use. And we,
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  Speaker 1: like Moses, are changed by those times that we spend
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  Speaker 1: with the Lord. And with that, we're going to end
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  Speaker 1: this episode of the Bible Study Podcast. If you have
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  Speaker 1: any questions, send an email to chris2x at gmail.com, or
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  Speaker 1: better yet, leave a comment on this episode at thebiblestudypodcast.com.
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  Speaker 1: And as always, thanks so much for listening. I want
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