Book of Esther

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Dr.Bombay

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Hello friends,

Can anyone provide a side-by-side comparison of the breakdown of the chapters in Esther? The Douay-Rheims just uses straight chapter numbers, in order. The NAB uses letters for some of the chapters, while the RSV-CE uses numbers, but not in order. I believe the NAB and RSV-CE chapters are in chronological order.

I’m most interested in the three bible versions above and how the chapter numbers/letters correspond. Any info or links would be appreciated. :tiphat:
 
Dr. Bombay:
Hello friends,

Can anyone provide a side-by-side comparison of the breakdown of the chapters in Esther? The Douay-Rheims just uses straight chapter numbers, in order. The NAB uses letters for some of the chapters, while the RSV-CE uses numbers, but not in order. I believe the NAB and RSV-CE chapters are in chronological order.

I’m most interested in the three bible versions above and how the chapter numbers/letters correspond. Any info or links would be appreciated. :tiphat:
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What it is over is that we use the LXX version of Esther, in which there are more chapters. With that said, I’ll explain each version:

When St. Jerome translated the scriptures and compiled the Vulgate, he questioned the canonicity of the Deuterocanonicals due to the fact that the Jews at that time rejected them. So when he translated Esther, he placed the chapters not found in the Hebrew version in the end of the Book of Esther. The Douay-Rheims Bible is a translation of the Vulgate and so these chapters are found at the end of the Book of Esther in the Douay-Rheims version.

When the Protestant Reformation took place, the deuterocanonicals were thrown out by the radical reformers. The chapters in the book of Esther that were questioned were compiled together and were numbered 1-6. They were then called “The rest of Esther” and were placed in apocrypha appendix of the early Protestant bibles. The RSV is a Protestant bible, the Catholic Edition places these chapters in the book of Esther where they are found in the LXX version. That is why you see random numbers in the RSV-CE’s book of Esther.

The NAB got around this confusion by using letters instead of numbers for the chapters not accepted by Protestants.
 
Can’t pass this by…The protestant version of the Book of Esther doesn’t use the word “God” in it. Somebody out there may need this on Jeopardy some day.
 
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BayCityRickL:
Can’t pass this by…The protestant version of the Book of Esther doesn’t use the word “God” in it. Somebody out there may need this on Jeopardy some day.
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The anti-Catholic user called YAQUBOS, who was suspended, said he didn’t care if the Protestant version of Esther did not have God mentioned in it. Our version is still wrong.
 
Cor, that hadn’t clicked for me.

I knew that Esther didn’t have God mentioned anywhere. It’s reasonably well known among protestants - and it’s even been suggested from time to time that Esther shouldn’t really be in the Bible for that reason.

I haven’t reread Esther since becoming Catholic but I’m sure I’ve read the prayers of Mordecai & Esther in chapter 4 at some point. It’s never clicked that I’ll have to stop saying that the book doesn’t mention God. Those prayers are fantastic aren’t they?

Lord, Lord, Almighty King,
everything is subject to your power,
and there is no one who can withstand you
in your determination to save Israel.

(New Jerusalem Esther 4:17b). There is infinite comfort and peace in that one verse.
 
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