Command documentation

compare

Compare readings across selected sources, witnesses, or traditions.

Purpose

This command is available over HTTP, MCP and the local CLI. HTTP responses use the compact public response shape with summaries, warnings and bounded tables.

MCP connection

Use endpoint https://bible.grod.es/mcp with tool bible_compare. The MCP Server Card is /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json.

Parameters

Name	Required	Description
`target`	yes	Reference or textual unit whose readings should be compared across selected sources or traditions. Target grammar: natural Bible reference, or prefix:value. Examples: Deut 32:8, John 1, ref:Deut 32:8, strong:H7225, entity:Paul, source:LXX, variant:<id>, resource:<id>.
`limit`	no	Maximum support rows per comparison table, such as readings, alignment evidence, token states, or review signals. It bounds supporting evidence; the requested sources/traditions decide what is compared. Default 20, max 100.
`depth`	no	Expansion depth from 0 to 10. 0 returns direct facts for the target; 1 is the default useful context; higher values include more related context and are clamped by the server --max-depth instead of failing.
`sources`	no	Source or witness codes to compare, such as MT, LXX, DSS, Vulgate, Peshitta, or loaded manuscript/source codes. Required unless traditions are provided.
`traditions`	no	Tradition filters for compare, such as Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Vulgate, Peshitta, or other loaded tradition labels.
`include`	no	Optional comparison layers to include, such as alignment, signals, source metadata, token states, and review evidence. Use it to make the comparison more auditable.
`provenance`	no	Controls provenance detail independently from domain includes: none omits extra provenance sections, summary returns compact source lineage, and full returns the most detailed provenance available for the command.

Required option sets: [["target","sources"],["target","traditions"]]

Examples

HTTP

curl -s 'https://bible.grod.es/api/compare?include=alignment&include=signals&sources=MT&sources=LXX&target=Deut+32%3A8'

MCP

{
  "arguments": {
    "include": [
      "alignment",
      "signals"
    ],
    "sources": [
      "MT",
      "LXX"
    ],
    "target": "Deut 32:8"
  },
  "name": "bible_compare"
}

CLI

bible compare --sources MT,LXX --include alignment,signals Deut 32:8

Caveats for this command

Textual variants and witness signals are source-backed but coverage varies by passage and tradition.
DSS material is fragmentary.
LXX GreekResources data is lemma-level and not a full critical apparatus.
The runtime does not call LLM or embedding APIs.