Then Tobit said to him, “You are very welcome, brother. Do not feel bitter toward me, brother, because I wanted to be sure about your family. It turns out that you are a kinsman and of good and noble lineage. For I knew Hananiah and Nathan, the two sons of the elder Shemeliah, and they used to go with me to Jerusalem and worship with me there; they were not led astray. Your kindred are good people; you are of good stock. Welcome!”

Yet he demolished all their shrines and cut down their sacred groves, for he had been commissioned to destroy all the gods of the land, so that all nations should worship Nebuchadnezzar alone and that all their dialects and tribes should call upon him as a god.

Since they had abandoned the ways of their ancestors and worshiped the God of heaven, the God they had come to know, their ancestors drove them out from the presence of their gods. So they fled to Mesopotamia and lived there for a long time.

Then the people fell down and worshiped God and cried out:

“For never in our generation nor in these present days has there been any tribe or family or people or town of ours that worships gods made with hands, as was done in days gone by.

All the people were greatly astonished. They bowed down and worshiped God and said with one accord, “Blessed are you, our God, who have this day humiliated the enemies of your people.”

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they worshiped God. As soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts.

Addition C

Mordecai’s Prayer

Then Mordecai prayed to the Lord, calling to remembrance all the works of the Lord. He said, “O Lord, Lord, King of all powers, for the universe is in your power and there is no one who can oppose you when it is your will to save Israel, for you have made heaven and earth and every wonderful thing under heaven. You are Lord of all, and there is no one who can resist you, the Lord. You know all things; you know, O Lord, that it was not in insolence or pride or for any love of glory that I did this and refused to bow down to this proud Haman, for I would have been willing to kiss the soles of his feet to save Israel! But I did this so that I might not set human glory above the glory of God, and I will not bow down to anyone but you, who are my Lord, and I will not do these things in pride. And now, O Lord God and King, God of Abraham, spare your people, for the eyes of our foes are upon us to annihilate us, and they desire to destroy the inheritance that has been yours from the beginning. Do not neglect your portion, which you redeemed for yourself out of the land of Egypt. Hear my prayer and have mercy upon your inheritance; turn our mourning into feasting that we may live and sing praise to your name, O Lord; do not destroy the lips of those who praise you.” And all Israel cried out with all their might, for their death was before their eyes.

Esther’s Prayer

Then Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, fled to the Lord. She took off the garments of her honor and put on the garments of distress and mourning, and instead of costly perfumes she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she utterly humbled her body; every part that she loved to adorn she covered with her tangled hair. She prayed to the Lord God of Israel and said: “O my Lord, you alone are our king; help me, who am alone and have no helper but you, for my danger is in my hand. Ever since I was born I have heard in the tribe of my family that you, O Lord, took Israel out of all the nations and our ancestors from among all their forebears for an everlasting inheritance and that you did for them all that you said. And now we have sinned before you, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies because we glorified their gods. You are righteous, O Lord! And now they are not satisfied that we are in bitter slavery, but they have set their hands on the hands of their idols to abolish what your mouth has ordained and to destroy your inheritance, to stop the mouths of those who praise you and to quench your altar and the glory of your house, to open the mouths of the nations for the praise of vain idols and to magnify forever a mortal king. “O Lord, do not surrender your scepter to what has no being, and do not let them laugh at our downfall, but turn their plan against them and make an example of him who began this against us. Remember, O Lord; make yourself known in this time of our affliction and give me courage, O King of the gods and Master of all dominion! Put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion and turn his heart to hate the man who is fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him. But save us by your hand and help me, who am alone and have no helper but you, O Lord. You have knowledge of all things, and you know that I hate the splendor of the lawless and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of any alien. You know my necessity, that I abhor the sign of my proud position that is upon my head on days when I appear in public. I abhor it like a menstrual cloth, and I do not wear it on the days when I am at rest. And your servant has not eaten at Haman’s table, and I have not honored the king’s feast or drunk the wine of libations. Your servant has had no joy since the day that I was brought here until now, except in you, O Lord God of Abraham. O God, whose might is over all, hear the voice of the despairing and save us from the hands of evildoers. And save me from my fear!”

End of Addition C

Addition D

Esther Is Received by the King

On the third day, when she ended her prayer, she took off the garments in which she had worshiped and arrayed herself in the garments of her honor. Then, majestically adorned, after invoking the aid of the all-seeing God and Savior, she took two maids with her; on one she leaned gently for support, while the other followed, carrying her train. She was radiant with perfect beauty, and she looked happy, as if beloved, but her heart was frozen with fear. When she had gone through all the doors, she stood before the king. He was seated on his royal throne, clothed in the full array of his majesty, all covered with gold and precious stones. He was most terrifying. Lifting his face, ablaze with glory, he looked at her in fierce anger. The queen faltered, turned pale and faint, and collapsed on the head of the maid who went in front of her. Then God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in alarm he sprang from his throne and took her in his arms until she came to herself. He comforted her with soothing words and said to her, “What is it, Esther? I am your kin. Take courage. You shall not die, for our law applies only to our subjects. Come near.” Then he raised the golden scepter and touched her neck with it; he embraced her and said, “Speak to me.” She said to him, “I saw you, my lord, like an angel of God, and my heart was shaken with fear at your glory. For you are wonderful, my lord, and your countenance is full of grace.” And while she was speaking, she fainted and fell. Then the king was agitated, and all his attendants tried to comfort her.

Punishment of the Wicked

In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,

The Foolishness of Nature Worship

For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature, and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists, nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works;

Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs carved images were worshiped.

Then the ambition of the artisan impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.

and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a human.

For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.

For their worshipers either rave in exultation or prophesy lies or live unrighteously or readily commit perjury,

Benefits of Worshiping the True God

But you, our God, are kind and true, patient, and ruling all things in mercy.

Lovers of evil things and fit for such objects of hope are those who either make or desire or worship them.

The Foolishness of Worshiping Clay Idols

A potter kneads the soft earth and laboriously molds each vessel for our service, fashioning out of the same clay both the vessels that serve clean uses and those for contrary uses, making all alike, but which shall be the use of each of them the worker in clay decides.

People are mortal, and what they make with lawless hands is dead, for they are better than the objects they worship, since they have life, but the idols never had.

Serpents in the Desert

Moreover, they worship even the most hateful animals, which are worse than all others when judged by their lack of intelligence,

Be generous when you worship the Lord, and do not skimp the first fruits of your hands.

Then all the people together quickly fell to the ground on their faces to worship their Lord, the Almighty, God Most High.

And the people of the Lord Most High offered their prayer before the Merciful One, until the order of worship of the Lord was ended and they completed his ritual.

and they bowed down in worship a second time to receive the blessing from the Most High.

when you see the multitude before and behind them worshiping them. But say in your heart, “It is you, O Lord, whom we must worship.”