Addition C · The prayers of Mordecai and Esther · Greek after 4:17 · unit 10
She recalls Israel's election from birth and God's ancient promise kept.
Rahlfs 4:17j (lettering not yet checked against Rahlfs) · Swete, Esther 4.1a–30a · .txt · .json
ἐγὼ ἤκουον ἐκ γενετῆς μου ἐν φυλῇ πατριᾶς μου, ὅτι σύ, Κύριε, ἔλαβες τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν ἐκ πάντων τῶν προγόνων αὐτῶν εἰς κληρονομίαν αἰώνιον, καὶ ἐποίησας αὐτοῖς ὅσα ἐλάλησας.
I have heard from my birth, in the tribe of my family, that you, Lord, took Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers out of all their ancestors, for an everlasting inheritance, and did for them all that you had spoken.draft English
What the rabbinic bench shows
0 verbatim · 4 motif · 1 flagged · 7 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
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.
The nations are called 'נכרים' while Israel is God's 'עם קרובו' whom none may touch — matching the plus's 'you took Israel out of all the nations... for an everlasting inheritance'; 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.
Esther's merit traced through inherited family modesty (Rachel, then Saul) matches the plus's appeal to what she 'heard from my birth, in the tribe of my family.'
Show the witness text (25 words)
'She heard the schoolchildren saying it in her father's house' is the same claim -- Israel's election known from birth within the family -- Addition C states.
Show the witness text (8 words)
'Benjamin my father was in his mother's womb and did not bow, and I am his son's son; as my father did not bow, so I will not' -- the same birth-and-family-tribe grounding as the plus's 'I have heard from my birth, in the tribe of my family.'
Show the witness text (69 words)
Flagged for further study (1)
The deliverance is grounded in an inherited family merit passed down from birth -- Shimei's wife hid Zadok and Abiathar, so 'two righteous ones who would redeem Israel, Mordecai and Esther, will come from her' -- matching the plus's 'I have heard from my birth, in the tribe of my family,' the specific birth-lineage-election frame.
Show the witness text (170 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.
אני שמעתי מיום הולדי בשבט משפחתי כי אתה יהוה לקחת את ישראל מכל הגוים ואת אבתינו מכל אבותם לנחלת עולם ותעש להם ככל אשר דברת
אנכי שמעתי מנעורי בבית אבי כי אתה אדני בחרת בישראל מכל העמים ובאבותינו מכל הדורות לנחלה עולמית ותעש להם כאשר דברת