Editing Book of Esther (section)

== Authorship and date ==
[[File:Göttingen-Esther.Rolle.0.JPG|thumb|Scroll of Esther (Megillah)]]
The ''Megillat Esther'' (Book of Esther) became the last of the 24 books of the [[Hebrew Bible]] to be canonized by the Sages of the [[Great Assembly]]. According to the [[Talmud]], it was a [[redaction]] by the Great Assembly of an original text by Mordecai.<ref>''Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Baba Bathra'' 15a</ref> It is usually dated to the 4th century BCE.<ref>NIV Study Bible, ''Introductions to the Books of the Bible, Esther'', Zondervan, 2002</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Jewish Study Bible |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195297515 |url-access=registration |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last1=Berlin |editor-first1=Adele |editor-last2=Brettler |editor-first2=Marc Zvi |editor-last3=Fishbane |editor-first3=Michael |isbn=978-0195297515 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195297515/page/1625 1625]}}</ref>

The Greek book of Esther, included in the [[Septuagint]], is a retelling of the events of the Hebrew Book of Esther rather than a translation and records [[#Additions to Esther|additional traditions]] which do not appear in the traditional Hebrew version, in particular the identification of Ahasuerus with [[Artaxerxes II]] and details of various letters. It is dated around the late 2nd to early 1st century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freedman |first1=David Noel |first2=Allen C. |last2=Myers |first3=Astrid B. |last3=Beck |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2000 |isbn=978-0802824004 |page=428 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA428 |access-date=2023-06-23 |archive-date=2023-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623090024/https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA428 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>George Lyons, ''Additions to Esther'', Wesley Center for Applied Theology, 2000</ref> The [[Copts|Coptic]] and [[Christianity in Ethiopia|Ethiopic]] versions of Esther are translations of the Greek rather than the Hebrew Esther.

A Latin version of Esther was produced by [[Jerome]] for the [[Vulgate]]. It translates the Hebrew Esther but interpolates translations of the Greek Esther where the latter provides additional material. Predating the Vulgate, however, the ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin") was apparently translated from a different Greek version not included in the Septuagint.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bellmann|first1=Simon|last2=Portier-Young|first2=Anathea|date=2019-08-21|title=The Old Latin book of Esther: An English translation|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951820719860628|journal=Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha|volume=28|issue=4|pages=267–289|language=en|doi=10.1177/0951820719860628|s2cid=202163709|access-date=2021-02-05|archive-date=2021-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210031227/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951820719860628|url-status=live}}</ref>

Several Aramaic [[targum]]im of Esther were produced in the [[Middle Ages]], of which three survive – the ''[[Targum Rishon]]'' ("First Targum" or 1TgEsth) and ''[[Targum Sheni]]'' ("Second Targum" or 2TgEsth)<ref name="Sokoloff">Prof. Michael Sokoloff, ''The Targums to the Book of Esther'', Bar-Ilan University 's Parashat Hashavua Study Center, Parashat Tezaveh/Zakhor 5764 March 6, 2004</ref><ref name="Kaufman">S. Kaufman, ''Cal Targum Texts, Text base and variants'', The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion</ref> dated {{circa|500}}–1000&nbsp;CE,<ref>Alan J. Hauser, Duane Frederick Watson, ''A History of Biblical Interpretation: The Ancient Period'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003</ref> which include additional legends relating to Purim,<ref name="Sokoloff"/> and the ''Targum Shelishi'' ("Third Targum" or 3TgEsth), which [[Abraham Berliner|Berliner]] and [[Moshe Goshen-Gottstein|Goshen-Gottstein]] argued was the ur-Targum from which the others had been expanded, but which others consider only a late recension of the same. 3TgEsth is the most manuscript-stable of the three, and by far the most literal.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goshen-Gottstein|first=M. H.|date=1975|title=The "Third Targum" on Esther and Ms. Neofiti 1|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42610736|journal=Biblica|volume=56|issue=3|pages=301–329|jstor=42610736|issn=0006-0887|access-date=2021-03-02|archive-date=2021-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316044326/https://www.jstor.org/stable/42610736|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kaufman"/>