Day 332: Ecclesiastes 1-3 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study & Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
- 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
- 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
- 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
- 0:10can go to the description or the bible
- 0:13department.com to download a reading
- 0:15plan and join the journey.
- 0:24Family, welcome to day 332 here on the
- 0:28Bible department. I'm super excited.
- 0:29We're jumping into a brand new book of
- 0:32the Bible. One of my favorite books of
- 0:34the Bible. Ecclesiastes.
- 0:37Ecclesiastes. I'm super super excited.
- 0:40Today we've got Ecclesiastes chapters 1,
- 0:44two, and three on the docket. If you've
- 0:47done the reading, then everything I'm
- 0:49going to talk about is going to make
- 0:50perfect sense. If you haven't done the
- 0:51reading, then you're probably going to
- 0:53be a little lost while I'm teaching
- 0:56through context clues, nerdy nuggets,
- 0:58and our Thomas Truth for the day. My job
- 1:02in this first uh episode uh is to kind
- 1:06of wrap our minds around not just the
- 1:08context of chapters 1, 2, and 3, but the
- 1:10context of the book of Ecclesiastes. Uh
- 1:14we've got Ecclesiastes for the next four
- 1:17days. Okay? uh today, the next day, the
- 1:20next day, the next day. 12 chapters
- 1:22total, four days in the book of
- 1:24Ecclesiastes. And so, uh let's dive in.
- 1:28There's some big big big piece of
- 1:30context that uh are really, really
- 1:33important. Um two contextual ideas,
- 1:38maybe even three, uh three contextual
- 1:40ideas that I think are going to really,
- 1:42really help us. Oh, I want us to think
- 1:44about uh three wisdom books as holding
- 1:48each other in tension. And those three
- 1:50wisdom books are Proverbs, Job, and
- 1:53Ecclesiastes. Okay? Proverbs, Job, and
- 1:55Ecclesiastes. So, Proverbs is
- 1:58essentially saying, "Hey, if you are a
- 2:02righteous person, you'll be blessed. And
- 2:04if you are a foolish person or wicked
- 2:06person, you're going to experience the
- 2:08consequences of your foolishness." Okay?
- 2:10And then Job is insanely righteous. I
- 2:14would say Job, you know, the the Bible
- 2:17is going to describe Job as blameless,
- 2:19as upright, as a righteous person. And
- 2:22like I mean the crappiest situation is
- 2:25going to happen to him. Okay. So Job's
- 2:28life uh we get to see through like
- 2:32actual life activity that he is battling
- 2:35through his theology. He's trying to
- 2:39reconcile the life that he's living with
- 2:43a very proverbs-based worldview. And
- 2:47then we have Ecclesiastes and we have a
- 2:51leader in the in the person of Solomon
- 2:54who almost is experiencing the opposite
- 2:57reality as Job. Solomon is wealthy
- 3:01enough and powerful enough to
- 3:04essentially experiment with the most
- 3:06pleasurable things in life. And so he's
- 3:10at the height of heights. uh probably
- 3:13living a pretty debauched lifestyle,
- 3:16experimenting with pleasure and with
- 3:18alcohol and with a harm of women and all
- 3:20that and coming to the conclusion that
- 3:23hey this stuff doesn't bring joy or
- 3:26fulfillment and despairing of life
- 3:29because success doesn't bring uh value
- 3:34and then Job is desparing of life
- 3:35because he lived upright and uh his life
- 3:39kind of came to calamity. So uh these
- 3:43three books of wisdom literature are
- 3:45actually designed to function as a
- 3:46whole. Okay. And Ecclesiastes is holding
- 3:49Job and Proverbs in tension. So that's
- 3:53just the first big picture 30,000 foot
- 3:56idea that we need. The second idea is
- 3:59that Ecclesiastes has two voices. And if
- 4:04you can't delineate between those two
- 4:06voices or you don't even know that there
- 4:09are two people talking, then you're not
- 4:12going to be able to really understand
- 4:14just like what's going on. So there's an
- 4:17author or or a narrator, if you will.
- 4:20Okay? There's an author and then there's
- 4:22a teacher. Okay? And the author is
- 4:25sometimes going to respond to what the
- 4:27teacher has taught. So I could give you
- 4:30an example, but if you've read
- 4:32Ecclesiastes 1, 2, and 3, then you 100%
- 4:35know what I'm talking about. So
- 4:37literally the book starts chapter 1
- 4:39verse 1 with the words of the teacher,
- 4:43son of David, king in Jerusalem. Okay?
- 4:45So those words right there are the words
- 4:48of the author, not the teacher. So, the
- 4:50author is like using the teacher as a
- 4:54voice, but then they're going to be
- 4:56spots in the book where this author is
- 4:59going to respond to what the teacher is
- 5:01saying. And it's going to be really
- 5:03important to know their two voices. If
- 5:05you don't know their two voices, that
- 5:07could lead to some confusion. And here's
- 5:09the third piece of context that I
- 5:11actually think is the most helpful. This
- 5:13was the most helpful piece of context
- 5:16for me. And honestly, shout out to uh
- 5:20Tim and John over at the Bible project.
- 5:22People end up calling the Bible
- 5:23department the Bible project to me by
- 5:25mistake a lot, which is a fantastic
- 5:27compliment. Um, but their explanation,
- 5:30Tam Mackey's explanation on this
- 5:32honestly unlocked Ecclesiastes for me in
- 5:35a way that it had just never been uh
- 5:38open for me or clear to me. Okay. The
- 5:41next is the word meaningless. Okay. So
- 5:45verse two is gonna chapter one verse
- 5:48two. Meaningless. Meaningless says the
- 5:50teacher. Utterly meaningless. Everything
- 5:52is meaningless. Um and other
- 5:55translations are going to use other
- 5:57words, right? Like vanity. Vanity.
- 6:00Vanity says the teacher. You know
- 6:02everything is vanity. And then the
- 6:05Hebrew word here is he. Okay. So we have
- 6:08to actually ask ourselves the question,
- 6:11what does he mean? Because if he doesn't
- 6:14actually mean meaningless, then that
- 6:18could lead to tons of misinterpretations
- 6:20of the book of Ecclesiastes. And
- 6:23probably the biggest interpretive or
- 6:25exogetical key that I've gotten as it
- 6:28relates to Ecclesiastes like in the past
- 6:30like three, four years has been Tim
- 6:33Mackey really challenging the thought
- 6:35that like meaningless is a bad
- 6:38translation of the word he. SO WHAT does
- 6:42the word he mean in Hebrew? He means
- 6:46fog, vapor, smoke. Fog, vapor, or smoke.
- 6:51That's what the word hell means. So
- 6:54instead of meaningless, meaningless as a
- 6:57teacher, utterly meaningless. Everything
- 6:58is meaningless. Which is like a sad
- 7:01thing to be saying. Like that doesn't
- 7:03sound like it should be in the Bible.
- 7:05Really, what it's saying is vapor.
- 7:07Vapor, says the teacher. Utterly vapor.
- 7:10Everything's vapor. Okay. Everything's
- 7:12smoke. Everything's vapor. Everything's
- 7:14fog. Oh man, that's life. You want to
- 7:17understand life, understand fog. YOU
- 7:19WANT TO UNDERSTAND LIFE, understand
- 7:21smoke. You want to understand life, man,
- 7:24understand
- 7:25vapor. Okay? So then we have to ask
- 7:28ourselves a question. What is it about
- 7:30vapor that seems to describe life? Okay.
- 7:36And so the teacher is going to give
- 7:37three things. You're going to say, "Yep,
- 7:39I hear all the stuff that you know,
- 7:41Proverbs has to say. However, nobody can
- 7:44beat time. No one can beat death. And
- 7:48life has this thing called chance. I'm
- 7:50sorry, but there is an element of chance
- 7:54to life. There's an element of
- 7:57coincidence. Chance. Like, like you
- 8:01could just BE UNLUCKY. LIKE CRAP happens
- 8:05and like good stuff happens whether for
- 8:08the good or the bad. Hey, time. Look,
- 8:10man. Look at this mountain. You're going
- 8:13to live. You're going to die. That
- 8:14mountain's still going to be there. Time
- 8:16is You're never going to beat time. And
- 8:18then number two, never going to beat
- 8:20death. You could live. You could play by
- 8:22the rules. You could do everything that
- 8:24Proverbs is telling you to do. And then
- 8:27you die and your son's a freaking idiot.
- 8:29And he takes all your money and blows
- 8:31it. So, you lived your whole life to
- 8:33save up a fortune only for your son or
- 8:36your daughter to get an inheritance and
- 8:39totally ruin your work, your life's
- 8:41work. Death. Everybody dies. And guess
- 8:44what? Foolish people die, wise people
- 8:46die, rich people die, POOR PEOPLE DIE.
- 8:48EVERYBODY DIES. SO, it's vapor. And then
- 8:52chance. So, time, death, and chance. You
- 8:55cannot factor out chance. Chance.
- 8:59There's an element to life that is just
- 9:02random. You can just put stuff in the
- 9:05randomizer that is life and you're going
- 9:07to get stuff out. So this is hevel.
- 9:10What is it about time, death, and chance
- 9:13that's he? Well, it's that he looks
- 9:18solid, but when you go to grasp it, it's
- 9:22gone. It can't be grasped. It can't be
- 9:27held on to. It can't be here's a key
- 9:30word controlled. So what is the
- 9:33solution? The actual wise solution that
- 9:36the book of Ecclesiastes is offering is
- 9:39don't try to grasp he. You cannot try to
- 9:45control or manipulate he life's he. Life
- 9:51is cruel. Life's unfair.
- 9:56All kinds of things happen in life. And
- 10:01if you are constantly trying to control
- 10:04the future or control outcomes or
- 10:07control other people or control
- 10:10anything, you're going to be living in a
- 10:13sad reality. You are constantly going to
- 10:15be depressed because what you're going
- 10:17to realize is life can't be controlled.
- 10:21Life's it's hell. And you know what? For
- 10:24some of us right now, if you're
- 10:26unhealthy, that freaks you out that life
- 10:29can't be controlled. But there's some of
- 10:31us, if you actually like unlock the
- 10:34wisdom that this book has to offer,
- 10:36you'll rest and go, I can't control
- 10:38outcomes. I can't control whether I'm
- 10:41rich or poor. I can't control anything.
- 10:43I can't control whether or not my kids
- 10:45love God or don't. I can't control other
- 10:48people. I can't control whether or not
- 10:50my spouse walks out on me. I can't
- 10:52control anything. I can influence
- 10:54things. I can be responsible for my
- 10:58part, but I can't control any outcomes.
- 11:02I can't control whether or not our
- 11:04church is 500 people or a thousand
- 11:06people or 200 people. I can't control
- 11:09whether or not people tithe. I can't
- 11:11control whether or not people complain.
- 11:13I can't control whether or not the stock
- 11:15market crashes. I can't control whether
- 11:17or not there's a pandemic. I can't
- 11:19control whether or not I like my job or
- 11:22I have a job that I'm prone to. I can't
- 11:24control it. I can't control the season.
- 11:27I can't control my age. I can't control
- 11:30anything. And there's a lot of us, we
- 11:33think we're upset because of whatever's
- 11:36happening in life. So, there's a couple
- 11:39of guys on our launch team and I have
- 11:41told them I've I used to deal with anger
- 11:43a lot. Like I used to be a very angry
- 11:46person and my anger was rooted in a
- 11:49dissatisfaction with life and a fear of
- 11:52failure. Just always felt like I was
- 11:54failing. Why did I feel like I was
- 11:56failing? This is going to sound odd, but
- 11:58the reason I always felt like I was
- 11:59failing is because the enemy was using
- 12:02my faith against me. I had so much faith
- 12:05for what the future was going to be that
- 12:07I was constantly disappointed. So, I had
- 12:09so much faith for where I was going to
- 12:10be by 30 that 30 was a disappointment to
- 12:13me when I finally got there. I had so
- 12:15much faith for what life was going to be
- 12:17like at 35 that when I finally got to
- 12:2035, 35 disappointed me. I had so much
- 12:23faith for what my life was going to be
- 12:25like at whatever age that then when I
- 12:28experienced it, it was nothing like the
- 12:32fantasy that I had in my head. And then
- 12:34I had to begin to realize that God gave
- 12:37me faith as a gift, not a curse. And the
- 12:41reason that I was constantly angry and
- 12:44constantly feeling like a failure is
- 12:47because I should be happy that there's a
- 12:50hundred people that showed up to a
- 12:52launch party, but I expected a thousand
- 12:55people. And you know how hard it is to
- 12:58be excited about a 100 people when
- 12:59you're expecting a thousand. And then
- 13:02you get to a book like Ecclesiastes, and
- 13:03I got here a couple years ago where I
- 13:06began to realize life's he
- 13:09would allow my mood or my feelings or my
- 13:14emotions to be based on how much money's
- 13:16in the bank account or how many people
- 13:19showed up to this event or to whether or
- 13:22not I got a book deal or to how many
- 13:24speaking engagements I could get. Man,
- 13:26life's he
- 13:29and the way that Job So, the the goal of
- 13:32the book of Job is to get you to realize
- 13:35God is a freaking untamed
- 13:38lion. You can't control God. Guess what
- 13:41Ecclesiastes is here to do? Get you to
- 13:43realize you can't control life. Not only
- 13:45can you not control God, you can't
- 13:46control life. Which means you can only
- 13:49control what you actually have control
- 13:51under over. And guess what? you can
- 13:53control your feelings, your mindset, and
- 13:58your response to whatever's happening in
- 14:01life. And I decided a long time ago,
- 14:04maybe like two to three years ago, I'm
- 14:06tired of being angry. I'm tired of being
- 14:08frustrated. I'm tired of being
- 14:10dissatisfied. Tired of being
- 14:11disappointed. Wait a second. Wait,
- 14:14[laughter] wait, wait. My joy is my
- 14:17decision. So, you know what? I'm going
- 14:20to wake up every day and I'm going to be
- 14:21happy. I'm happy whether there's 50
- 14:24people, 100 people, 500 people on this
- 14:27launch stream. I'm happy whether I'm
- 14:30broke or whether I'm wealthy. I'm happy
- 14:33whether, like Job, all my kids die or
- 14:36whether they live. I'm happy. And what
- 14:38does the author of Ecclesiastes get to?
- 14:40He says, "The only thing you have is to
- 14:42enjoy this moment right now." So go
- 14:46ahead. You could waste your life being
- 14:48so upset that you're not where you want
- 14:51to be that you could just or you could
- 14:54rejoice in the fact that you're exactly
- 14:56where God wants you to be. You're the
- 14:58job that you're at. And so many of us,
- 15:02we're mad at the lives we have because
- 15:04they're not the lives we want. That if
- 15:07you could grasp that, that's not he.
- 15:10That's a solid foundation to build your
- 15:12life on. that no one controls me and
- 15:15nothing controls me. Seriously, I've
- 15:17been trying to get this into this one
- 15:19guy head on our launch team. I won't say
- 15:21his name. Uh, I love him to death. I've
- 15:24been trying to tell him your job is not
- 15:26the reason you're upset. Your marriage
- 15:28is not the reason you're upset. The
- 15:30money in your bank account is not the
- 15:31reason you're upset. None of those
- 15:32things have anything to do with whether
- 15:33or not you're upset. Your feelings about
- 15:36your own self is why you're upset.
- 15:38You're upset because you're upset. And
- 15:40it took me years to realize. I thought
- 15:42to myself, man, if there was more kids
- 15:44in this youth group, I'd be happy. Man,
- 15:46if my wife would fill in the blank, I'd
- 15:48be happy. Man, if we had a kid, I'd be
- 15:53happy. And I kept just being like, I'd
- 15:55be happy if I'd be happy if I'd be happy
- 15:57if. And then you read Ecclesiastes and
- 16:00you realize, I am trying to grasp vapor
- 16:03he I'm chasing after the wind. This is
- 16:06silly. Or I could wake up today and make
- 16:09a decision. I'm happy. I am going to be
- 16:12a happy person. And you know what? This
- 16:15is what the author of Ecclesiastes is
- 16:16saying. The sun shining on your face
- 16:18should make you happy. Taking a deep
- 16:20breath should make you happy. That you
- 16:22should find contentment. Contentment not
- 16:26in trying to build your life on things
- 16:27that you can't control, but by building
- 16:29your life on the stuff that you actually
- 16:31can't control. You know what you can
- 16:32control? You control how happy you are
- 16:35right now. You can control your mood
- 16:37right now. You can control your mindset
- 16:39right now. you control you because the
- 16:41best control is self-control. And that's
- 16:44the mindset that I want us to have as we
- 16:45move into the rest of Ecclesiastes. All
- 16:48right, family. The wait is over. My
- 16:51brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out
- 16:53[music]
- 16:54now and available everywhere books are
- 16:57sold literally today. I walked into a
- 17:01Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of
- 17:03copies at a physical location. So, you
- 17:06can grab this book at a physical Barnes
- 17:08& Noble or you can go to a Books a
- 17:10Million [music] or Amazon or anywhere
- 17:13books are sold and grab a copy. If you
- 17:16enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient
- 17:19perspective, if you understand that the
- 17:22beauty of scripture is actually knowing
- 17:23it in context, then you'll love this
- 17:26book. And if there's any chaos in your
- 17:29personal life, [music] I think that
- 17:31reading the Bible from an ancient
- 17:33perspective can actually help to crush
- 17:35the chaos in your life. I think this
- 17:37book is going to be a New York Times
- 17:38bestseller. I really do. I think we
- 17:40wrote a good one. I think you should get
- 17:43a copy today. All right, back to the
- 17:46episode. All my nerdy nuggets were mixed
- 17:48in there. I'm sorry. Time, death,
- 17:50chance. That's what I wrote down as my
- 17:52nerdy nuggets. So, he is our big
- 17:55context. And then the author is going to
- 17:57use time, death, and chance just as
- 17:59examples of how vapor, how smoke, how
- 18:05foggy the nature of life is. So here's
- 18:08my Thomas truth. I remember the day that
- 18:10my pastor really genuinely asked me a
- 18:12question that changed my life. My pastor
- 18:14asked me, "Why don't you and your dad
- 18:16have a good relationship?" And I was
- 18:17like, "Cuz he took me to a crack house
- 18:19when I was five. Duh. CUZ HE'S ON CRACK.
- 18:22WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THE MAN'S ON
- 18:24DRUGS. THAT'S WHY WE DON'T HAVE A GOOD
- 18:26RELATIONSHIP. AND MY PASTOR WENT, "That
- 18:28ain't the reason you don't have a good
- 18:29relationship." He said, "The reason that
- 18:31you don't have a good relationship is
- 18:32because you are trying to get him to be
- 18:35someone he's not." Do you enjoy the dad
- 18:37that you actually have? You spent so
- 18:39much time using faith to believe that he
- 18:43would be someone that he's not that you
- 18:46have not operated in wisdom, which is to
- 18:50accept the person that he is. Stop
- 18:53living in faith. I want you to live in
- 18:56reality. Have you ever asked your dad
- 18:58about any of his crazy drug binges? Have
- 19:01you ever asked your dad about any of his
- 19:03wild stories? And I was like, "No." And
- 19:06I was all defensive like, "No." And he
- 19:08was like, "Yeah, that's your loss.
- 19:11That's your loss. You know how many
- 19:12freaking crazy stories your dad probably
- 19:14has? He was locked up for 18 years. He
- 19:16took you to a crack house when you were
- 19:17five. That dude's nuts, bro. If you sat
- 19:21down with him and just stopped being so
- 19:23freaking uptight and just relaxed and
- 19:26just like let him tell you some crazy
- 19:28stories, you'd laugh. If you actually
- 19:31accepted the dad you have instead of
- 19:35trying to use faith to control him and
- 19:37manipulate him into being someone he's
- 19:39not. See, this is faith working against
- 19:41me. I can be honest. I have a gift of
- 19:44faith, but if I'm not careful, that gift
- 19:46of faith will make me such an an
- 19:50unhappy, dissatisfied person. And I'll
- 19:53use faith to try to manipulate somebody
- 19:56into being someone that honestly they're
- 19:59not going to be. Now, on the flip side,
- 20:01that same faith gift has helped many
- 20:05people become the best versions of
- 20:07themselves, but it's not based on
- 20:09control. It's based on me just letting
- 20:13telling them who I think they can be and
- 20:16then letting it be up to them. With my
- 20:18dad, I was so close to the situation. I
- 20:21cared so much that I couldn't just speak
- 20:24life and then just let him, you know,
- 20:27hey, I'm responsible for speaking the
- 20:30truth. And the truth is, I believe you
- 20:32can be healed. I think you could be
- 20:34sober. I think you could be free. Trying
- 20:36to control an outcome is going beyond
- 20:40just telling you what the Lord told me
- 20:42to say, but then trying to make you
- 20:44become that person. You want to know
- 20:46that conversation with Pastor Matt
- 20:48changed my life. I stopped trying to get
- 20:50my dad to become someone. I just started
- 20:53asking him questions and man, talk about
- 20:56let the good times roll. MY DAD WAS
- 20:59LIKE, "OH, I CAN BE MYSELF AROUND YOU.
- 21:01OH, YOU'RE SAFE. OH, LET ME TELL YOU
- 21:04SOME CRAZY STORIES." AND GUESS WHAT? I
- 21:06FINALLY STARTED TO LAUGH, JOKE, have a
- 21:08good time with my dad because it went
- 21:11from a pressure to conform to freedom to
- 21:16just be. And I went from chasing after
- 21:19the wind, trying to control he to just
- 21:22going, "Let the smoke be what it is,
- 21:24man. You can't control smoke. Let the
- 21:26fog be what it is, man. You can't
- 21:28manipulate fog.
- 21:30Shoot, man. Man, you better just let the
- 21:33vapor be what it be. Just let it do what
- 21:36it do. You cannot build your life on
- 21:39vapor. Life's vapor. It's he. It's
- 21:43smoke. People who are obsessed
- 21:47with what their life is going to be,
- 21:49they're going to hate Ecclesiastes.
- 21:51People who are just like, "No, my life
- 21:53has to turn out this way." All right.
- 21:56You know, I don't like this book because
- 21:57this book is going to require you to die
- 22:02to all the dreams you have for the
- 22:03future. This book is going to require
- 22:06you to stop living based on some vision
- 22:10you have for your future and to actually
- 22:13freef fall and accept not the life that
- 22:17you want, but the life that you have.
- 22:20Actually accept what you have. And when
- 22:24you realize what you got, guess what
- 22:26happens? You get happy. And a lot of
- 22:29people are dissatisfied because instead
- 22:31of being married to reality, they're
- 22:34married to some vision that they have
- 22:36for the future. And not to say that a
- 22:39vision for the future's bad, but if a
- 22:41vision for the future is making you
- 22:43angry and dissatisfied today, then that
- 22:47means that that vision for the future is
- 22:48actually not serving you. You're serving
- 22:51it. And that is toxic. And that's not
- 22:54just time. That's not just true for
- 22:57Solomon and Ecclesiastes and the context
- 23:00that he's in in like 900 950 BC. That's
- 23:04true for you and that's true for me. So
- 23:07let's he let's not try to control the
- 23:10fog, the wind, or the vapor. How about
- 23:12you just let the game happen? Don't try
- 23:14to control the game. Let the game come.
- 23:17Score when the ball's in your hands.
- 23:20Don't try to manipulate life or control
- 23:22life because if Job taught us anything,
- 23:25it's that God cannot be controlled. And
- 23:27if Ecclesiastes has anything to teach
- 23:29us, it's that life cannot be controlled.
- 23:31All right, tomorrow we're going to be in
- 23:34Ecclesiastes chapters 4, 5, and 6. We're
- 23:37going to knock out day 333. I cannot
- 23:40believe that it's about to be day 365.
- 23:43This is nuts. I'm so proud of you,
- 23:44especially if you're on a streak. I'll
- 23:46see you right here tomorrow, same time,
- 23:48same place. Love you. Peace. Thanks so
- 23:51much for joining us on the Bible
- 23:52department podcast. If this episode was
- 23:55helpful, how about you leave a comment,
- 23:57share with a friend, and subscribe so
- 23:59that you never miss an episode. To learn
- 24:01more about the show, head to the bible
- 24:03department.com. We'll see you right back
- 24:05here tomorrow.
About this transcript
This page contains the full transcript of Day 332: Ecclesiastes 1-3 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study & Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango by The Bible Dept., generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,945 words across 549 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.
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