Additions to Esther

What the Additions to Esther are

The Hebrew book of Esther famously never mentions God. No prayer is recorded, no miracle occurs, and the theology has to be inferred from a plot too well-timed to be accidental. That silence has always provoked comment, and the Greek version of Esther answers it directly.

Six passages, spread through the story, fill the gap. Mordecai has a dream at the start and its interpretation at the end. Both Mordecai and Esther pray at length before she approaches the king — Esther’s prayer is anguished, confessing how much she loathes the position she is in. The scene where she enters the throne room is expanded: she faints, the king’s face changes, and God is said to have turned his spirit to gentleness. The two royal decrees, summarised in a line in the Hebrew, are given in full. And God is named throughout.

In Catholic Bibles these passages appear in their narrative places, so the book reads as a continuous whole. Protestant Bibles that include the Apocrypha traditionally print them separately, following Jerome, who collected the material not found in Hebrew and placed it at the end — which is why the chapter numbering looks strange and the passages can seem to begin mid-scene.

Where it sits

The additions are received as scripture by Catholic and Orthodox Christians as part of the book of Esther. Protestants treat the Hebrew Esther as canonical and value these passages without giving them that standing. The site presents both positions without arguing between them.

Why it is worth reading

Because the two versions of Esther make an interesting pair. The Hebrew book trusts the reader to see providence in a chain of coincidences; the Greek one says it out loud. Reading them side by side is a lesson in how differently the same story can be told, and both tellings have fed Christian reflection on how God works when he does not appear to be working.