Overview: More Than One Ancient Form of Esther
The Book of Esther survives in more than one important ancient textual form. The familiar Hebrew version, preserved in the Masoretic Text, tells how the Jewish queen Esther and her kinsman Mordecai prevent Haman’s plan to destroy the Jews of the Persian Empire and establish the feast of Purim. A later Greek form of Esther preserves the same basic story but expands it substantially with six passages conventionally labeled Additions A through F. These additions introduce prayers, dreams, royal decrees, explicit references to God, and fuller descriptions of Esther’s and Mordecai’s inner lives. The USCCB notes that reading Esther with these additions produces a markedly different religious and literary experience from reading the Hebrew book alone. [1]
The Hebrew Esther and the Greek Editions
The Hebrew Esther is famous for never explicitly naming God, even though fasting, deliverance, providence, reversal, and the survival of the Jewish people dominate the plot. Divine activity is often implied rather than stated. The Greek tradition makes that theological dimension explicit. God is named, Esther and Mordecai pray, providence is openly interpreted, and the royal edicts are expanded to explain the political and religious stakes facing the Jews. [1]
Textual study is more complex than a contrast between one Hebrew text and one Greek translation. Scholars distinguish the Masoretic Text, the Old Greek or Septuagint, and another Greek form called the Alpha Text. Tyler Smith and Kristin De Troyer emphasize that the relationships among these forms and the additions are intricate, with surrounding passages sometimes reshaped to accommodate them. [6]
Addition A: Mordecai’s Dream and the Opening Crisis
Addition A functions as a Greek prologue. Mordecai dreams of two great dragons preparing for battle, a small spring becoming a mighty river, and the righteous being threatened before deliverance comes. The addition also recounts Mordecai’s discovery of a plot against the king. At the end of Greek Esther, Addition F interprets the dream, so A and F form a theological frame around the whole story. What appears at first as political danger is ultimately interpreted as part of a conflict in which God preserves his people.
Addition B: Haman’s Decree
Addition B gives Haman’s royal decree ordering the destruction of the Jews. It portrays them as a people whose laws differ from other nations and turns their distinctiveness into a political accusation. The USCCB observes that the Greek edicts elaborate Gentile attitudes toward the Jews, making the threat more explicit than in the Hebrew narrative. [1]
Addition C: The Prayers of Mordecai and Esther
Addition C contains extended prayers by Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai explains that his refusal to bow before Haman was fidelity to God. Esther puts on mourning, confesses dependence upon God, recalls Israel’s covenant history, and asks for courage before approaching the king. The fasting of Hebrew Esther is thus transformed into explicit prayer, and her risk becomes an act of faith as well as political bravery.
Addition D: Esther Before the King
Addition D expands Esther’s dangerous entrance into the royal presence. Instead of the relatively restrained account in the Hebrew text, Greek Esther heightens the drama: Esther is overcome with fear, the king initially appears terrifying, she collapses, and he then responds with gentleness. The scene gives narrative form to the prayer that precedes it. Esther acts courageously, but the Greek account emphasizes her vulnerability and the providential reversal that saves her.
Addition E: The Counter-Decree
Addition E supplies the text of the royal decree issued after Haman’s downfall. The document reverses the earlier policy, identifies Haman as the true enemy, praises the Jews as loyal subjects, and authorizes their defense. The paired decrees of B and E create a literary reversal that mirrors the entire book: condemnation becomes vindication, the threatened people receive protection, and the political machinery intended for destruction is turned against the plotter.
Addition F: The Dream Interpreted
Addition F returns to Mordecai’s opening dream and interprets its symbols. The two dragons are Mordecai and Haman; the spring that becomes a river is Esther; the nations represent those seeking Israel’s destruction; and Israel is the people who cry to God and are delivered. The addition closes the Greek book by making explicit what the Hebrew form often leaves implicit: the reversals of Esther are understood as acts of divine remembrance and mercy. The USCCB dates the Greek form of the book broadly to about 116–48 B.C., based in part on the colophon attached to this material. [1]
Why the Additions Matter
The additions do more than insert the name of God; they reinterpret the narrative. Esther becomes a praying queen, Mordecai’s resistance receives a religious explanation, and Haman’s attack becomes both political and theological. Providence moves from implication to declaration. Eileen M. Schuller and Vivian Johnson describe Greek Esther as an innovative adaptation of an earlier Hebrew form that gives the book a more overtly religious tone. [7]
Where the Additions Appear in Greek and Douay-Rheims Ordering
Modern Catholic translations that distinguish the additions alphabetically normally place them where they occur in the Greek narrative: A before Esther 1:1; B after 3:13; C and D after 4:17; E after 8:12; and F after 10:3. The Latin Vulgate preserved the additional material in a different arrangement, largely after the Hebrew-form ending. The Douay-Rheims follows that Vulgate numbering, which is why Esther 10:4 is the natural entry point for readers of this site. [1] [3]
The USCCB provides the detailed correspondence: Vulgate Esther 10:4–13 corresponds to Greek Addition F:1–10; 11:2–12:6 to Addition A; 13:1–7 to Addition B:1–7; 13:8 through the material in chapter 15 contains the prayers and Esther’s audience with the king associated with C and D; and chapter 16 preserves Addition E. This different ordering explains why readers comparing a Douay-Rheims Bible with a modern Catholic Bible may encounter the same Greek material under very different chapter and verse numbers.
Canon and Catholic Reception
The Greek additions are part of the Catholic canonical form of Esther. The Council of Trent in 1546 listed Esther among the canonical books and explicitly stated that the books were received “entire with all their parts” as used in the Catholic Church and contained in the Old Latin Vulgate tradition. [5] Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions therefore receive the expanded Esther as Scripture, while Protestant Old Testaments ordinarily follow the shorter Hebrew form. When the additions are printed in Protestant Bibles, they are generally placed in the Apocrypha rather than within canonical Esther. [2]
Lasting Importance
Esther’s multiple ancient forms offer an unusually clear window into the growth and transmission of biblical literature. The Hebrew story communicates providence largely through reversal, coincidence, fasting, courage, and survival without directly naming God. The Greek traditions make that theology explicit through prayer, interpretation, and divine action. Neither the additions nor their placement can be understood simply as decorative appendices: they reshape how readers understand Esther’s courage, Mordecai’s resistance, Haman’s hatred, the royal decrees, and the meaning of Purim. For Catholic readers, the expanded book preserves both the gripping story of deliverance and an ancient theological interpretation of that deliverance—one in which the hidden pattern of providence becomes openly confessed as the saving work of God.
Annotated Sources
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “The Book of Esther — Introduction.” Original source retained. Explains the Hebrew and Greek forms of Esther, the theological purpose and content of Additions A–F, the approximate date of the Greek form, and the detailed correspondence between Greek and Vulgate numbering. bible.usccb.org/bible/esther/0 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Understanding the Bible.” Original source retained. General Catholic explanation of the biblical canon and the fact that Catholic Bibles contain portions of Esther and Daniel not found in Protestant Old Testaments. usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible ↩︎
- Douay-Rheims Bible, Esther 10. Original source retained. Shows the Vulgate/Douay-Rheims transition at Esther 10:4 into material absent from the Hebrew text, beginning with Mordecai’s interpretation of his dream. drbo.org/chapter/19010.htm ↩︎
- Catholic Encyclopedia, “Esther.” Original source retained. Historical discussion of the Septuagint additions, their placement in the Vulgate after Esther 10:3, textual history, and Catholic reception. newadvent.org/cathen/05549a.htm
- Council of Trent, Session IV, “Decree Concerning the Canonical Scriptures” (1546). The Council lists Esther among the canonical books and states that the books are received entire with all their parts as read in the Catholic Church and contained in the Old Latin Vulgate. papalencyclicals.net — Fourth Session ↩︎
- Tyler Smith and Kristin De Troyer, “The Additions of the Greek Book(s) of Esther,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha. Oxford University Press, 2021. A modern scholarly study of the six additions and the complex relationship among the Masoretic Text, Old Greek Esther, Alpha Text, and surrounding narrative material. Oxford Academic — The Additions of the Greek Book(s) of Esther ↩︎
- Eileen M. Schuller and Vivian Johnson, “Esther (the Greek Additions),” in Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha. Fortress Press, 2014. Describes Greek Esther as an innovative adaptation of an earlier Hebrew form, emphasizing how the additions give the story a more explicit religious tone and present God as directly involved in its reversals. JSTOR — Esther (the Greek Additions) ↩︎