Talmai — Addition C 16: She asks for a well-tuned word to sway the king ('the lion') against the enemy.
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-04.17-16/
Source edition: H. B. Swete, The Old Testament in Greek, 19.4.1a-30a

GREEK: δὸς λόγον εὔρυθμον εἰς τὸ στόμα μου ἐνώπιον τοῦ λέοντος, καὶ μετάθες τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ εἰς μῖσος τοῦ πολεμοῦντος ἡμᾶς, εἰς συντέλειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ὁμονοούντων αὐτῷ· ἡμᾶς δὲ ῥῦσαι ἐν χειρί σου, καὶ βοήθησόν μοι τῇ μόνῃ καὶ μὴ ἐχούσῃ εἰ μὴ σέ, Κύριε.
ENGLISH (draft-awaiting-approval): Put a well-tuned word in my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hatred of the one making war on us, to the destruction of him and of those who agree with him; but deliver us by your hand, and help me, alone as I am, having no one but you, Lord.

PARALLELS:
- [Flagged] Esther Rabbah 8:7 (Esther Rabbah) — conduit: medieval retranslation. 'והשפילהו לפני כי אתה משפיל גאים' (humble him before me) matches Addition C's request that God put a persuasive word in her mouth and turn the king's heart — a shared, non-MT prayer asking God to directly alter the king's disposition before the audience.
- [Motif] Rashi on Megillah 16a:19:1 (Rashi on Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Esther's gesture pointing at Ahasuerus himself as a danger is the specific assumption behind Addition C's plea for a word to sway 'the lion.'
- [Flagged] Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1056:15 (Yalkut Shimoni on Esther (Remez 1046-1061)) — conduit: lost intermediary. The witness has Esther call the king 'the lion' ('הושיעני מפי אריה'), the same distinctive epithet the plus uses ('before the lion') for Ahasuerus; not MT (MT never calls the king a lion).
- [Motif] Megillah 15b:8 (Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. Esther's prayer names the king 'the lion' (Ps 22), exactly as the plus's prayer names the king 'the lion' and asks for a word before him -- a specific, non-MT title for Ahasuerus shared by both.
- [Flagged] Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 50:10 (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 49-50) — conduit: oral. At the banquet the king's wrath is kindled specifically against Haman ('הרשע הזה... הגם לכבוש את המלכה עמי בבית'), the precise narrative fulfillment of the plus's plea to 'turn his heart to hatred of the one making war on us.'
- [Flagged] Rashi on Megillah 15b:14:1 (Rashi on Bavli Megillah 9a-17a) — conduit: oral. 'So that he would be at hand for her, that she might trip him up before the king' is the specific strategic aim behind Addition C's plea for a word to sway 'the lion.'
- [Motif] Targum Sheni on Esther 5:1:4 (Targum Sheni on Esther) — conduit: Aramaic. 'Let Jacob's favour be placed in my mouth and Joseph's grace upon my tongue' as she enters is the specific petition for persuasive speech before the king matching Addition C's 'put a well-tuned word in my mouth before the lion.' One of the parallels the scholarly literature already records (control P05).
- [Flagged] Aramaic Targum to Esther 5:1 (Aramaic Targum to Esther (Targum Rishon)) — conduit: Aramaic. The prayer's close, asking that she be granted mercy in his eyes so he not kill her and grant her request, matches the plus's petition for a persuasive word and a turned royal heart.
- [Flagged] Sifrei Aggadah on Esther, Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II 6:11 (Sifrei Aggadah on Esther: Midrash Panim Acherim, Version II) — conduit: lost intermediary. Esther's single 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.'