When the Israelites saw their vast numbers, they were greatly terrified and said to one another, “They will now strip clean the whole land; neither the high mountains nor the valleys nor the hills will bear their weight.”

“For your strength does not depend on numbers nor your might on the powerful. But you are the God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope.

The Assyrian came down from the mountains of the north; he came with myriads of his warriors; their numbers blocked up the wadis, and their cavalry covered the hills.

Note: The deuterocanonical portions of the book of Esther are several additional passages found in the Greek translation of the Hebrew book of Esther, a translation that differs also in other respects from the Hebrew text (the latter is translated in the NRSV Old Testament). The disordered chapter numbers come from the displacement of the additions to the end of the canonical book of Esther by Jerome in his Latin translation and from the subsequent division of the Bible into chapters by Stephen Langton, who numbered the additions consecutively as though they formed a direct continuation of the Hebrew text. So that the additions may be read in their proper context, the whole of the Greek version is here translated, though certain familiar names are given according to their Hebrew rather than their Greek form, for example, Mordecai and Vashti instead of Mardocheus and Astin. The order followed is that of the Greek text, but the chapter and verse numbers conform to those of the King James, or Authorized, Version. The additions, conveniently indicated by the letters A–F, are located as follows: A before 1.1; B after 3.13; C and D after 4.17; E after 8.12; F after 10.3.

Addition A

Mordecai’s Dream

In the second year of the reign of Artaxerxes the Great, on the first day of Nisan, Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, had a dream. He was a Jew living in the city of Susa, a great man serving in the court of the king. He was one of the captives whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken captive from Jerusalem with King Jeconiah of Judea. And this was his dream: Noises and confusion, thunder and earthquake, tumult on the earth! Then two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and they roared terribly. At their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against a nation of righteous people. It was a day of darkness and gloom, of tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult on the earth! And the whole righteous nation was troubled; they feared the evils that threatened them and were ready to perish. Then they cried out to God, and at their outcry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river with abundant water; light came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were exalted and devoured those held in honor. Mordecai saw in this dream what God had determined to do, and after he awoke he had it on his mind, seeking all day to understand it in every detail.

A Plot against the King

Now Mordecai took his rest in the courtyard with Gabatha and Tharra, the two eunuchs of the king who kept watch in the courtyard. He overheard their conversation and inquired into their purposes and learned that they were preparing to lay hands on King Artaxerxes, and he informed the king concerning them. Then the king examined the two eunuchs, and after they had confessed it, they were led away. The king wrote these things down as a commemoration, and Mordecai wrote an account of them. And the king ordered Mordecai to serve in the court and rewarded him for these things. But Haman son of Hammedatha, a Bougean, who was in great honor with the king, determined to injure Mordecai and his people because of the two eunuchs of the king.

End of Addition A

Artaxerxes’ Banquet

It was after this that the following things happened in the days of Artaxerxes, the same Artaxerxes who ruled over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia.

For they still recalled the events of their sojourn, how instead of producing animals the earth brought forth gnats, and instead of fish the river spewed out vast numbers of frogs.

Do not trust in their survival or rely on their numbers, for one can be better than a thousand, and to die childless is better than to have ungodly children.

But Judas said to those who were with him, “Do not fear their numbers or be afraid when they charge.

He put to the sword all those who came out to see them, then rushed into the city with his armed warriors and killed great numbers of people.

They took the town by the will of God and slaughtered untold numbers, so that the adjoining lake, a quarter of a mile wide, appeared to be running over with blood.