Addition C · The prayers of Mordecai and Esther · Greek after 4:17 · unit 1
Mordecai invokes the Lord as king over all, sole and unopposed.
Rahlfs 4:17a (lettering not yet checked against Rahlfs) · Swete, Esther 4.1a–30a · .txt · .json
καὶ ἐδεήθη Κυρίου, μνημονεύων πάντα τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου, καὶ εἶπεν· Κύριε, κύριε βασιλεῦ, πάντων κρατῶν, ὅτι ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ σου τὸ πᾶν ἐστιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀντιδοξῶν σοι ἐν τῷ θέλειν σε σῶσαι τὸν Ἰσραήλ·
And he besought the Lord, remembering all the works of the Lord, and said: O Lord, Lord, king who holds all things in your power, for the whole world is in your dominion, and there is no one to oppose you when you wish to save Israel;draft English
What the rabbinic bench shows
0 verbatim · 7 motif · 1 flagged · 12 candidates examined and rejected.
- Lost intermediary: an earlier written aggadic source, no longer extant, stands between
- Oral: shared narrative tradition, thematic rather than literary contact
- Aramaic: carried by a targum; how the targum came by it is open
Motif — candidate parallels
Unverified at pair level: in a seeded sample of forty motif pairs, 58% failed the study's own test. Read each as a candidate.
Ahasuerus objects that Israel cannot be destroyed because 'אין אנו יכולים שאין אלקיהם עוזבם כל עיקר' — the enemy conceding the plus's claim that none can oppose God when he wills to save Israel; not MT material.
Text not reproduced: licence not stated — research only, never published verbatim. Consult Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061) at the reference above.
Rashi asks precisely what Mordecai said in his bitter cry (MT 4:1) -- the exact narrative gap Addition C's prayer fills.
Show the witness text (12 words)
The euphemistic content given to Mordecai's cry -- 'the upper King has been overcome' -- matches Addition C's insistence God alone is king, unopposed.
Show the witness text (9 words)
Mordecai wrapping himself and standing to pray is a genuine extra-MT prayer scene for Mordecai, matching the very innovation the plus supplies (MT never shows Mordecai praying).
Show the witness text (57 words)
'The enemy of the Holy One became poor, as one unable to save' is the exact negation of Addition C's opening claim that none can oppose the Lord when he wishes to save Israel.
Show the witness text (13 words)
Mordecai's confession, 'the living and enduring God, who is one in heaven,' is the specific sole-and-unopposed sovereignty Addition C invokes at the head of Mordecai's prayer.
Show the witness text (106 words)
Mordecai's own prayer ('Master of the world, you wrote in your Torah... where are your former mercies, Lord, which you swore to David') supplies him with an actual invocation of the Lord recalling his works and promises -- the same act of prayer Addition C stages at exactly this point ('he besought the Lord, remembering all the works of the Lord').
Show the witness text (168 words)
Flagged for further study (1)
The witness supplies Mordecai with an actual spoken prayer, with ashes on his head, addressed to the patriarchs and God -- filling exactly the gap MT leaves at 4:1 (a bare 'loud and bitter cry') the same way Addition C supplies Mordecai's prayer content there.
Show the witness text (98 words)
Hebrew retroversions
Machine-assisted reconstructions of a Hebrew the Greek might render, made under Tov's principles and used only as search queries. They are hypotheses, not evidence.
ויתפלל אל יהוה ויזכר את כל מעשי יהוה ויאמר אדני אדני המלך המושל בכל כי הכל בידך ואין אשר יעמד לפניך בחפצך להושיע את ישראל
ויתחנן אל יהוה ויזכר את כל מעשיו ויאמר אדני המלך המושל בכל כי בידך הכל ואין מי יעמד לנגדך בחפצך להושיע את ישראל
ויעתר אל יהוה ויזכר את כל אשר עשה יהוה ויאמר אדני אדני מלך כל השלטון כי הכל ברשותך ואין מתקומם לך ברצותך להושיע את ישראל