Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles have a number of extra verses (107) in the Book of Esther, which are not known from the original Hebrew but do appear in Greek manuscripts. In Protestant Bibles, if they appear at all, they are separated into the Apocrypha. This puts them in a similar position to the additions to Daniel which I've already mentioned.
Esther is a very strange book, and some have questioned whether the whole thing should be in the Old Testament at all. The main characters Esther and Mordecai/Mardocheus have names that resemble those of the Babylonian deities Ishtar and Marduk, and there are other odd features. The book in its Hebrew form remains popular with Jews who base their Purim festival on it. Even so it appears to have been one of the last books to enter the Jewish canon.
The big problem with the Hebrew version of Esther is that it barely mentions God and that is partly why the Greek additions seem to have been added. God is mentioned fifty times in the additions. There are also some very Jewish additions, e.g. about kosher diet, not drinking wine given to pagan gods and also Gentiles being circumcised and converted. The only Jewish practice mentioned in the Hebrew is fasting, which is not something unique to Abrahamic religions.
The interpolations emphasise Esther's beauty and also make her more helpless than her addition-free counterpart.
The additions do not all appear to have been added by the same person.
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/ ... ons-Esther
The six passages making up the Additions to Esther are identified by letters. Each passage may be briefly summarized.
Addition A (11:2-12:6) is a dream of Mordecai in which two great dragons appear ready to fight. A tiny spring grew into a great river when the righteous nation cried to God. Mordecai later overheard two eunuchs plotting against the king. He reported them and was rewarded by appointment to a high office. All this precedes Esther 1:1.
Addition B (13:1-7) is the text of the edict of Ahasuerus (Gr. has Artaxerxes) against the Jews. It is to be inserted after 3:13.
Addition C (13:8-14:19) gives the prayers of Mordecai and Esther. It follows 4:17.
Addition D (15:1-16; Lat. 15:4-19) is an elaboration of 5:1, 2 and should be inserted before 5:3. This passage describes the anger of the king at Esther’s intrusion, but God changed the king’s heart and attitude toward Esther.
Addition E (16:1-24) gives the text of the edict of Ahasuerus in behalf of the Jews. This passage follows 8:12.
Addition F (10:4-11:1), which follows 10:3, is the interpretation of Mordecai’s dream. The two dragons are Mordecai and Haman, and the tiny spring is Esther. The “lots” of Purim are two destinies, a “lot” for the Jews and a “lot” for the Gentiles.
NB- I don't endorse the use of "BCE".Discrepancies. The many discrepancies introduced by the Additions make it difficult to accept them as original parts of the text. The attitude of Esther toward the king in 2:15-18 is not at all the same as that given in 14:15, 16. The irrevocable edict of 1:19 and 8:8 is revoked in 16:17. Haman is hanged in 7:10; crucified in 16:18. The Jews only are to keep Purim in 9:20-32, but all Persians are instructed to keep it in 16:22. Other contradictions are found when 2:16-19 is compared with 11:3-12:1; 2:21-23 and 6:3, 4 with 12:5; 3:5 with 12:6; 5:4-8 with 14:7; and 3:1 with 16:10.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblic ... -to-Esther
Other posts by me about the ApocryphaTo bring the canonical book up-to-date in connection with contemporary anti-Semitism and to stress the religious meaning of the story, additions were made in its Greek translation. These Greek additions are (1) the dream of Mordecai (Esther’s uncle), a symbolic vision written in the spirit of apocalyptic literature; (2) the edict of King Artaxerxes (considered by some to be Artaxerxes II, but more probably Xerxes) against the Jews, containing arguments taken from classical anti-Semitism; (3) the prayers of Mordecai and of Esther, containing apologies for what is said in the Book of Esther—Mordecai saying that he refused to bow before Haman (the grand vizier) because he is flesh and blood and Esther saying that she strongly detests her forced marriage with the heathen king; (4) a description of Esther’s audience with the King, during which the King’s mood was favourably changed when he saw that Esther had fallen down in a faint; (5) the decree of Artaxerxes on behalf of the Jews, in which Haman is called a Macedonian who plotted against the King to transfer the kingdom of Persia to the Macedonians; and (6) the interpretation of Mordecai’s dream and a colophon (inscription at the end of a manuscript with publication facts), where the date, namely, “the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra” (i.e., 114 BCE), is given. This indicates that the additions in the Greek Esther were written in Egypt under the rule of the Ptolemies.
This is an ongoing series about the Roman and Orthodox Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical book.
1 Esdras
viewtopic.php?p=1343974
2 Esdras (the most relevant book in the Apocrypha?)
viewtopic.php?p=1344302
Tobit
viewtopic.php?p=1341501#p1341501
Prayer of Azarias (Azariah) and Hymn of the Three Children
viewtopic.php?t=69264
Bel and the Dragon (quoted in full, KJV)
viewtopic.php?t=69261
Book of Susanna
viewtopic.php?t=69386
Book of Judith
viewtopic.php?t=69402
The Book of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus, the NT, the BOM and the other Jesus
viewtopic.php?t=69412
Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy/Jeremiah
viewtopic.php?p=1346145
Prayer of Mannases (aka Mannaseh; quoted in full KJV)
viewtopic.php?t=69263
Psalm 151 (quoted in full, NRSV)
viewtopic.php?t=63875
Epistle to the Laodiceans (NT, quoted in full Wycliffe's translation, )
viewtopic.php?t=64025&p=1208281