Talmai — Addition C 4: He would have kissed Haman's feet for Israel's sake, but will not exalt a man above God.
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-04.17-04/
Source edition: H. B. Swete, The Old Testament in Greek, 19.4.1a-30a

GREEK: ὅτι ηὐδόκουν φιλεῖν πέλματα ποδῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς σωτηρίαν Ἰσραήλ, ἀλλὰ ἐποίησα τοῦτο ἵνα μὴ θῶ δόξαν ἀνθρώπου ὑπεράνω δόξης θεοῦ· καὶ οὐ προσκυνήσω οὐδένα πλὴν σοῦ τοῦ κυρίου μου, καὶ οὐ ποιήσω αὐτὰ ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ.
ENGLISH (draft-awaiting-approval): For I would gladly have kissed the soles of his feet for the salvation of Israel; but I did this so that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God; and I will bow down to no one except you, my Lord, and I will not do this out of pride.

PARALLELS:
- [Verbatim] Esther Rabbah 8:7 (Esther Rabbah) — conduit: medieval retranslation. 'כי לוחך הייתי מנעל רגליו' (I would have licked the sole of his shoe) matches 'ηὐδόκουν φιλεῖν πέλματα ποδῶν αὐτοῦ' (I would gladly have kissed the soles of his feet) — a unique, specific image tied to the same 'for Israel's sake' logic, not MT's.
- [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 idolatrous-garment rationale for refusing to bow matches the plus's 'I did this so that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God.'
- [Motif] Rashi on Megillah 13a:3:2 (Rashi on Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. 'Whoever denies idolatry is called a Jew' is the specific anti-idolatry rationale Addition C gives for the refusal: not exalting a man's glory above God's.
- [Motif] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:2 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. 'אם ישתחוה לי נמצא עובד ע"א' is precisely the plus's reasoning that he would not set a man's glory above God's; not MT material.
- [Motif] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:3 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. Mordecai says the Shekhinah rests on his shoulders and so he cannot flatter Haman — refusal framed, as in the plus, as a choice between God's glory and a man's; not MT material.
- [Motif] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:5 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. 'איסגנטריני של הקב"ה אני וכי איסגנטרין משתחוה להדיוט' — God's herald does not bow to a commoner — the same theological ground the plus gives for refusing prostration; not MT material.
- [Motif] Rashi on Esther 3:4:1 (Rashi on Esther) — conduit: lost intermediary. Rashi's 'he is a Jew, warned against idolatry' matches the plus's distinction between honoring a man and elevating a man's glory above God's -- a specific idolatry-based refusal not in MT.
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Abba Guryon 3:5 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Abba Guryon) — conduit: lost intermediary. The refusal is explicitly framed in both as not personal pride but a refusal to set a man's glory beside God's, matching Addition C's 'I did this so that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God.'
- [Flagged] Targum Sheni on Esther 3:3:2 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. Mordecai's rationale -- who is a man, born of woman, his days few, his end returned to dust, that I should bow to him -- is the specific reasoning behind Addition C's 'not to set the glory of a man above the glory of God.'
- [Motif] Targum Sheni on Esther 3:3:3 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. 'I bow to none but the living and enduring God... to him alone it is fitting to bow' is the specific counterpart to Addition C's 'I will bow down to no one except you, my Lord.'
- [Motif] Megillah 10b:20 (Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Haman explicitly 'made himself an object of worship' (idol) -- the specific extra-MT reason the plus's Mordecai gives for not bowing, so as not to exalt a man's glory above God's.
- [Flagged] Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Megilat Esther, Midrash on the Megillah (of Esther) 6 (Otzar Midrashim: Midrash on the Megillah (of Esther)) — conduit: oral. Because Haman's garments bore an idol's image, Mordecai will not give a man divine honor -- matching the plus's 'I did this so that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God.'
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 6:28 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. Mordecai raises his hand heavenward, refusing to forsake the living and eternal Lord to bow to the idol on Haman's breast -- matching Addition C's 'I did this so that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God.'
- [Flagged] Esther Rabbah 6:2 (Esther Rabbah) — conduit: oral. ER frames Ahasuerus's bow-order as engineered idolatry so that Mordecai's refusal is religiously, not personally, motivated — matching Addition C's insistence that the refusal was not pride but refusal to exalt a man over God, a rationale absent from MT.
- [Flagged] Esther Rabbah 7:5 (Esther Rabbah) — conduit: lost intermediary. The embroidered idol on Haman's garment, making prostration to him literal idol-worship, supplies the same religious grounding for Mordecai's refusal that Addition C gives in his own words — a specific, non-MT mechanism explaining why bowing was forbidden.
- [Motif] Megillah 13a:2 (Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Mordecai called 'Yehudi' because he repudiated idolatry is the same substantive claim as the plus's account of his refusal to bow so as not to exalt a man's glory above God's.
- [Motif] Targum Sheni on Esther 6:1:3 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. Haman's robe bore two idol images, so bowing would be idolatry -- the specific non-MT reason matching Addition C's 'that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God.'
- [Flagged] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 6:25 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. 'I cannot flatter a wicked man... it is not that I may not bow, but that the Shekhinah resting on me should not be displaced' -- matching Addition C's 'I did this so that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God' precisely.
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 6:7 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. Esther's single formulated sentence before the king -- 'an adversary and enemy: adversary to those above and enemy to those below' -- is precisely what raises the king's wrath against Haman, matching Addition C's petition for 'a well-tuned word... that turns his heart to hatred of the one making war on us.'
- [Flagged] Aramaic Targum to Esther 6:1 (Aramaic Targum to Esther (Targum Rishon)) — conduit: Aramaic. The vivid, specific detail that Haman's robe bore two embroidered idol-images, front and back, so that bowing would be idol worship, matches the plus's reasoning that he would not set a man's glory above God's; not in MT.