And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
And they declare to Mordecai the words of Esther,
And they told Mordecai Esther's words.
Esther — A Jewish orphan becomes queen of Persia; Haman plots genocide; Mordecai and Esther intervene; deliverance comes by providence — and God's name never once appears in the book.
Voices1
Many women, fortified by the grace of God, have accomplished many heroic actions. The blessed Judith, when the city was besieged, asked permission of the elders to be allowed to go into the foreigners' camp. By exposing herself to danger she went out for love of her country and of the people who were besieged, and the Lord delivered Holophernes into the hand of a woman. To no less danger did Esther, who was perfect in faith, expose herself, in order to save the twelve tribes of Israel that were to be destroyed.
Clement of Rome· 1 CLEMENT 55.3-6, 99patristic
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
