Israel, who alone does wondrous things” (Ps. 72:18).21 The same construction is reproduced in the NT: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, … who comforts us …” (2 Cor. 1:3–4); “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who … has begotten us anew …” (1 Pet. 1:3).22 Here too the reasonfor blessing God is given in a similar clause: “who has blessed us.…”23 The same verb is used for men and women’s blessing God and for his blessing them, but not in the same sense. In
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