@Francis has made similar requestions but I am being very explicit with examples.
From an incomplete chart:
In the Western Church, I am unlikely to plan a lesson specifically on the Prayer of Manasseh unless I covering apocrypha in general. However, I do expect to be asked about it because of its use in music, liturgy, and literature on repentance. As such, I need to be able to create text comparisons including the text that gave raise to the question. Herein lies the problem:
- The two earliest texts Didascalia Apostolorum and Apostolic Constitutions are not versify. I need to be able to split the texts into verses and manually align them with a Biblical text.
- Many translations of the Prayer appear in liturgical texts as prayers, canticles, responsories. I need to be able to enter such texts into the comparison tool even though there is no milestone reference for them. In short, I need to be able to enter any text, versified or not,
- I need to be able to save the resulting document to be called up on other occasions rather than rebuilding it each time.
Before you dismiss this saying, "this is an extraordinary case so it would get little use" consider:
- this allows for manual alignment of Bibles that are paraphrases rather than translations — think the trials of @Bob Diebel
- service books have large quantities of scripture included within them - this is scripture has the congregation has heard it over and over, often modified for chanting or singing (think metrical psalters), or for context.
- creeds, statements of faith, confessions of faith, even small catechisms could be compared for viewing changes over time, differences in emphasis of different versions, denominational differences or historical battles…
