Talmai — Addition C 5: He asks God to spare his people, threatened with destruction from the beginning.
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-04.17-05/
Source edition: H. B. Swete, The Old Testament in Greek, 19.4.1a-30a

GREEK: καὶ νῦν, Κύριε ὁ θεὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραάμ, φεῖσαι τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ὅτι ἐπιβλέπουσιν ἡμῖν εἰς καταφθορὰν καὶ ἐπεθύμησαν ἀπολέσαι τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς κληρονομίαν σου·
ENGLISH (draft-awaiting-approval): And now, Lord God, King, God of Abraham, spare your people, for they look upon us for our destruction and have desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning;

PARALLELS:
- [Flagged] Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Megilat Esther, Midrash on the Book of Esther 6 (Otzar Midrashim: Midrash on the Book of Esther) — conduit: medieval retranslation. Mordecai's own prayer in the passage -- 'You swore to the fathers to multiply their seed like the stars of heaven... remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' -- matches Addition C's petition invoking the God of Abraham to spare his people, a prayer MT does not narrate at all.
- [Flagged] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Abba Guryon 4:1 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Abba Guryon) — conduit: lost intermediary. Both texts frame the enemy's aim as total, ancient destruction rather than plunder -- Nebuchadnezzar then Haman decreeing 'not a half or a third but the whole vine' -- matching Addition C's non-MT 'they have desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning.'
- [Flagged] Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 50:6 (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 49-50) — conduit: oral. 'זכור לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב אשר נשבעת להם' -- Mordecai's prayer pleads the patriarchal oath specifically to spare the people, the same 'God of Abraham, spare your people' invocation and plea-structure as Addition C, material absent from MT's Esther narrative.
- [Flagged] Targum Sheni on Esther 5:1:1 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. The prayer's address, 'You are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God of Benjamin my father,' shares Addition C's specific invocation 'Lord God, King, God of Abraham, spare your people.'
- [Motif] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 2:3 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. 'Mordecai sought mercy for them, and through him miracles were done' supplies Mordecai with the specific intercessory-prayer role that Addition C gives him at 4:17.
- [Flagged] Megillah 11a:12 (Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. God's covenant promise not to destroy Israel, applied specifically 'in the days of Haman... I raised up Mordecai and Esther,' matches Mordecai's plea to spare 'your inheritance from the beginning.'
- [Flagged] Megillah 13a:1 (Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Haman's descent from Agag, spared by Saul, frames the enmity as ancient and hereditary, matching the plus's 'they have desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning.'
- [Motif] Rashi on Megillah 11a:11:1 (Rashi on Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Lev 26:44 cited specifically as Purim's proof-text matches Addition C's plea that God not overlook the portion he redeemed for himself.
- [Motif] Rashi on Megillah 11a:13:1 (Rashi on Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Saul's sparing of Amalek/Agag as the ground of later punishment is the specific ancient-enmity detail (Haman ha-Agagi) behind 'desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning.'
- [Flagged] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 4:7 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. 'Asher karahu' (Deut 25:18) is read specifically as Amalek, 'one of Amalek's seed has risen and seized Israel' -- matching Addition C's petition against enemies who 'have desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning,' the Amalek-as-ancient-enemy frame.
- [Flagged] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:21 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. R. Levi's chain of persecutors — Esau, Pharaoh, Haman, Gog, each improving on the last's scheme of total destruction — matches the plus's 'desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning'; not MT material.