Esther 4:17

Here the Greek inserts Addition C: The prayers of Mordecai and Esther. Its units:

• C 1 — Mordecai invokes the Lord as king over all, sole and unopposed.
• C 2 — God as maker of heaven and earth, Lord of all.
• C 3 — Mordecai denies pride or ambition drove his refusal to bow to Haman.
• C 4 — He would have kissed Haman's feet for Israel's sake, but will not exalt a man above God.
• C 5 — He asks God to spare his people, threatened with destruction from the beginning.
• C 6 — He asks God not to forget Israel, redeemed from Egypt; turn mourning to feasting.
• C 7 — Esther takes off her royal robes and puts on mourning, ashes on her head.
• C 8 — She humbles her body and disorders her hair.
• C 9 — She calls on God alone, having no other helper, in mortal danger.
• C 10 — She recalls Israel's election from birth and God's ancient promise kept.
• C 11 — She confesses Israel's sin and God's justice in their punishment.
• C 12 — She names the enemies' plan: to erase God's decree, silence his praise, quench his altar.
• C 13 — Their aim: to make a mortal king worshipped forever instead of God.
• C 14 — She begs: do not hand the scepter to nothing; turn their plot back on them.
• C 15 — She asks for courage before the king, in this time of affliction.
• C 16 — She asks for a well-tuned word to sway the king ('the lion') against the enemy.
• C 17 — She states she hates the glory of the lawless and abhors intermarriage.
• C 18 — She hates the royal ornament she must wear in public, like an unclean thing.
• C 19 — She has not eaten at Haman's table nor honored the king's feast.
• C 20 — She has had no joy since becoming queen, except in God.
• C 21 — Final plea: hear the despairing, deliver us from the wicked.