Talmai — Addition C 3: Mordecai denies pride or ambition drove his refusal to bow to Haman.
Licence: English and apparatus CC BY 4.0 (Talmai, Wroot Press); Greek from Swete, CC BY-SA. https://talmai.wrootpress.com/rights/
Canonical: https://talmai.wrootpress.com/unit/esth-plus-04.17-03/
Source edition: H. B. Swete, The Old Testament in Greek, 19.4.1a-30a

GREEK: σὺ πάντα γινώσκεις, σὺ οἶδας, Κύριε, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν ὕβρει οὐδὲ ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ οὐδὲ ἐν φιλοδοξίᾳ ἐποίησα τοῦτο, τὸ μὴ προσκυνεῖν τὸν ὑπερήφανον Ἀμάν.
ENGLISH (draft-awaiting-approval): You know all things; you know, Lord, that it was not out of insolence, nor out of pride, nor out of love of glory, that I did this -- that I would not bow down to the arrogant Haman.

PARALLELS:
- [Verbatim] Esther Rabbah 8:7 (Esther Rabbah) — conduit: medieval retranslation. 'כי לא מגבהות לב ומרום עין עשיתי אשר לא השתחויתי להמן' precisely matches Addition C's disclaimer — not from insolence/pride/love of glory did I refuse to bow to Haman — across multiple corresponding clauses, and is absent from MT.
- [Flagged] Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Megilat Esther, Midrash on the Book of Esther 5 (Otzar Midrashim: Midrash on the Book of Esther) — conduit: lost intermediary. The passage explains Mordecai's refusal to bow as avoidance of idolatry (Haman's garment bore an idol's image), the same apologetic move as the prayer's denial that insolence or pride motivated the refusal.
- [Flagged] Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Megilat Esther, Midrash on the Megillah (of Esther) 6 (Otzar Midrashim: Midrash on the Megillah (of Esther)) — conduit: oral. 'Why did Mordecai not bow to him? For two reasons: because he was his slave, and because he was clothed in garments bearing an idol's image' -- an explicit non-pride rationale for the refusal, matching the prayer's exculpation.
- [Flagged] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 6:25 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. The witness supplies Mordecai's own justification for non-bowing -- refusal of idolatry (Haman's idol embroidered on his heart) and preserving the Shekhinah -- the same specific 'not insolence but obligation' apologia Addition C puts in Mordecai's prayer.
- [Motif] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:2 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. Haman carries his idol on his garments so that bowing equals idolatry — the specific reason the witness gives for Mordecai's refusal, matching the plus's claim it was not insolence or pride; not MT material (MT gives no reason).
- [Motif] Rashi on Esther 3:2:1 (Rashi on Esther) — conduit: lost intermediary. Rashi's 'Haman made himself a god, therefore Mordecai would not bow' supplies the specific theological reason for the refusal that Addition C's disclaimer of insolence and pride presupposes; not in MT.
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Abba Guryon 3:5 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Abba Guryon) — conduit: lost intermediary. MT gives Mordecai no reason for refusing to bow; both here and in Addition C he is given the same non-MT apologia, refusing to honor a man over God ('shall I bow to a commoner?').
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Abba Guryon 3:4 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Abba Guryon) — conduit: lost intermediary. The bow is reframed as a no-win loyalty test between God and the nations, the same non-MT God-vs-man premise underlying Mordecai's apologia in Addition C, though without the personal-pride denial.
- [Motif] Targum Sheni on Esther 6:1:3 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. Haman's robe bears two idol images front and back, so bowing would be idol-worship -- the specific non-MT reason Mordecai's refusal is theological, not pride, matching Addition C's disclaimer of insolence or ambition.
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version I 1:7 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version I) — conduit: lost intermediary. Mordecai's refusal is explained as refusal of idolatry -- Haman had an idol embroidered on his garment over his heart -- grounding the refusal as religious obligation, not personal insolence, matching Addition C's exact apologia.
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version I 1:18 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version I) — conduit: lost intermediary. Mordecai's non-prostration is explicitly grounded in Torah/prophecy (Deut 27:15; Isa 2:22 'cease from man in whose nostrils is breath') as a matter of principle, matching Addition C's disclaimer that the refusal was not personal insolence or pride.
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 3:2 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. Mordecai grounds his refusal in a family tradition -- 'because I am a Jew... Benjamin my father did not bow' -- the same non-personal, ancestral-obligation grounding Addition C's Mordecai gives for the refusal.
- [Flagged] Esther Rabbah 6:2 (Esther Rabbah) — conduit: oral. 'יש אדון המתגאה על כל גאים היאך אני מניחו ואשתחוה לעבודת כוכבים' explains Mordecai's refusal as anti-idolatry rather than personal pride — the same specific rationale Addition C supplies in Mordecai's own voice ('not from insolence, pride, or love of glory'), a motive MT never states.
- [Flagged] Targum Sheni on Esther 3:3:2 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. Mordecai's answer to the courtiers grounds the refusal in human lowliness (born of woman, few days, ends in dust), matching Addition C's disclaimer that the refusal was not out of insolence or pride.
- [Motif] Targum Sheni on Esther 3:3:7 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. A second, distinct non-pride rationale -- Benjamin was unborn when Jacob bowed to Esau and has never bowed to any man -- again motivates the refusal by something other than personal pride, as Addition C insists.
- [Motif] Megillah 13a:2 (Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Mordecai called Yehudi for repudiating idolatry is the same religious-refusal claim as the plus's denial of insolence, pride, or love of glory in not bowing.
- [Motif] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:4 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. Mordecai is charged with 'לבטל קלבסים של מלך' and answers 'שאני יהודי' and by Benjamin's precedent — the same accusation of personal insolence that the plus's prayer explicitly denies; not MT material.
- [Flagged] Aramaic Targum to Esther 6:1 (Aramaic Targum to Esther (Targum Rishon)) — conduit: Aramaic. In the night-midrash Mordecai answers his accusers in his own first-person voice, giving idolatry (not pride) as his reason for not bowing -- the same self-defense genre and content as Addition C's disclaimer.