diff --git a/internal/verify-browser-all.mjs b/internal/verify-browser-all.mjs
index 1d158c8bb..5c6cd8ef9 100644
--- a/internal/verify-browser-all.mjs
+++ b/internal/verify-browser-all.mjs
@@ -66,6 +66,10 @@ const GATES = [
   { script: 'verify:5-caps',            why: 'all 5 capability levels mount and render' },
   { script: 'smoke:embeds',             why: 'every shipped leaf page mounts its element' },
   { script: 'verify:map-paint',         why: 'every map leaf paints a real canvas' },
+  // verify:map-paint proves a canvas painted; this proves the gospel map's PINS are on it
+  // and answer a tap. It also scans every link in the index against the screened-publisher
+  // list, which is a doctrine boundary rather than a rendering one.
+  { script: 'verify:gospel-map',        why: 'the gospel map renders its pins, answers a tap, and links only screened publishers' },
   { script: 'verify:gate1',             why: 'the Gate-1 chain filters live data end to end' },
   { script: 'check:a11y-button-names',  why: 'every visible button has an accessible name' },
   { script: 'check:nav-reachable',      why: 'a phone can open the cap-5 tab rail' },
diff --git a/internal/verify-gospel-map.mjs b/internal/verify-gospel-map.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d153ad073
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/verify-gospel-map.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/**
+ * verify-gospel-map.mjs — the gospel-resources map must render its pins and answer a tap.
+ *
+ * WHY THIS IS A GATE AND NOT A SCRATCH PROBE. Every browser check written for this bundle
+ * lived in _qa-cycle/, which is gitignored: a dozen probes that proved the pins render, the
+ * sheet opens with real links, and the deep link filters the table — all of which vanish
+ * with the working tree. check:coverage-consistent guards the DATA and cannot see the map.
+ * The repo has carded orphaned gates twice; this is the same loss one step earlier, a gate
+ * that was never committed at all.
+ *
+ * WHAT IT ASSERTS, against the SHIPPED tree through the production-parity server:
+ *   1. the element mounts and exposes window.__grState — a stale-SRI leaf silently refuses
+ *      to execute its script, which looks exactly like a mount failure;
+ *   2. every pin in the source is RENDERED, not merely loaded;
+ *   3. tapping a pin opens a group whose language is NAMED and whose links are real URLs
+ *      belonging to the screened hosts — never a fabricated or off-list link;
+ *   4. the gap filter actually filters: fewer features, and only tier 0 left;
+ *   5. the sheet's "every resource" link carries the group's own ISO code.
+ *
+ * ★ WAIT FOR IDLE BEFORE COUNTING. queryRenderedFeatures before first paint returns 0,
+ * which is indistinguishable from a layer that is not painting — the first version of this
+ * check reported a false negative on itself for exactly that reason.
+ *
+ * ★ AND THE HOST LIST IS THE DOCTRINE BOUNDARY, enforced here rather than trusted: only
+ * eBible/PNG.Bible/Door43/JESUS Film may appear. A link to an excluded publisher would be
+ * a doctrinal failure, not a broken link, so it fails this gate loudly.
+ *
+ * USAGE: needs a server. `bun run serve` (serve-strict on 4173), then
+ *   node internal/verify-gospel-map.mjs [baseUrl]
+ * Override with BASE_URL. Skips loudly (exit 0) if the tree is not built, the way CI sees it.
+ */
+import { chromium } from 'playwright'
+
+const BASE = (process.env.BASE_URL || process.argv[2] || 'http://127.0.0.1:4173').replace(/\/+$/, '')
+const PAGE = `${BASE}/doxa-maps/gospel-resources/resources-map/index.html`
+const GL = ['--use-gl=swiftshader', '--enable-unsafe-swiftshader', '--ignore-gpu-blocklist', '--enable-webgl', '--no-sandbox']
+// The screened publishers. Anything else is a doctrine failure, not a typo.
+const ALLOWED = /^(https:\/\/)?([a-z0-9-]+\.)*(ebible\.org|png\.bible|alkitab\.pw|git\.door43\.org|jesusfilm\.org|arc\.gt)(\/|$)/i
+
+const res = await fetch(PAGE).catch(() => null)
+if (!res || !res.ok) {
+  console.log(`GOSPEL-MAP: SKIP — ${PAGE} not served (${res ? res.status : 'no server'}).`)
+  console.log('  Start one with:  bun run serve      (serve-strict, production parity)')
+  process.exit(0)
+}
+
+const fails = []
+let linkCount = 0
+const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: true, args: GL })
+const page = await browser.newPage({ viewport: { width: 1280, height: 900 } })
+const pageErrors = []
+page.on('pageerror', (e) => pageErrors.push(String(e)))
+
+try {
+  await page.goto(PAGE, { waitUntil: 'networkidle', timeout: 60000 })
+  // 1 — mounted. A stale-SRI leaf never executes, and that reads as "did not mount".
+  await page.waitForFunction(() => typeof window.__grState === 'function', { timeout: 45000 })
+  // ★ idle FIRST: counting before first paint returns 0 and looks like a dead layer.
+  await page.evaluate(() => new Promise((r) => {
+    const m = window.__grMap
+    m.loaded() ? r() : m.once('idle', r)
+    setTimeout(r, 8000)
+  }))
+
+  const st = await page.evaluate(() => window.__grState())
+  if (!st.hasLayer || !st.hasSource) fails.push('pin layer or source missing')
+  // 2 — rendered, not merely loaded
+  if (!st.pins || st.rendered !== st.pins) {
+    fails.push(`${st.rendered} of ${st.pins} pins rendered`)
+  }
+
+  // 3 — a tap answers, with a named language and real links
+  const opened = await page.evaluate(() => {
+    const f = window.__grMap.getSource('gr-pin-src')._data.features
+    for (const x of f) {
+      window.__grOpenPin(x.properties.i)
+      const g = window.__grState().group
+      if (g && (g.scripture_url || g.film_url)) {
+        return { pg: g.people_group, lang: g.language, iso: g.iso639_3, s: g.scripture_url, f: g.film_url }
+      }
+    }
+    return null
+  })
+  if (!opened) fails.push('no pin opened a group carrying a link')
+  else if (!String(opened.lang || '').trim()) fails.push(`${opened.pg} opened with no language name`)
+
+  // ★ EVERY link in the index the page loaded, not just the one group we opened. The
+  // first version checked only the opened group's two URLs — a sample of 1 out of 2,685
+  // codes — so an excluded publisher injected anywhere else passed cleanly. MEASURED: a
+  // jw.org URL planted in the served data did NOT fail this gate until the scan covered
+  // the whole index. The doctrine boundary is the one thing here that must never be
+  // spot-checked: a single off-list link is a doctrinal failure, not a broken link.
+  const idxRes = await fetch(`${BASE}/doxa-maps/assets/tables/people-group-pins.json`)
+  if (!idxRes.ok) fails.push(`pin index not served (${idxRes.status})`)
+  else {
+    const idx = await idxRes.json()
+    const bad = []
+    let scanned = 0
+    for (const [c, v] of Object.entries(idx.codes || {})) {
+      for (const u of [v.s, v.f, ...(v.d || []).map((d) => d.u)]) {
+        if (!u) continue
+        scanned++
+        if (!ALLOWED.test(u)) bad.push(`${c} -> ${u}`)
+      }
+    }
+    if (!scanned) fails.push('pin index carries no links at all — this check would pass vacuously')
+    if (bad.length) fails.push(`${bad.length} link(s) on an unscreened publisher (e.g. ${bad[0]})`)
+    linkCount = scanned
+  }
+
+  // 5 — the table deep link carries this group's own code
+  await page.waitForTimeout(400)
+  const href = await page.evaluate(() => {
+    const walk = (r) => {
+      for (const el of r.querySelectorAll('*')) {
+        const h = el.getAttribute && el.getAttribute('href')
+        if (el.tagName === 'A' && h && /data-tables/.test(h)) return h
+        if (el.shadowRoot) { const f = walk(el.shadowRoot); if (f) return f }
+      }
+      return null
+    }
+    return walk(document)
+  })
+  if (opened?.iso && (!href || !href.includes(`iso=${opened.iso}`))) {
+    fails.push(`table link does not carry iso=${opened.iso} (got ${href})`)
+  }
+
+  // 4 — the gap filter filters
+  const filtered = await page.evaluate(async () => {
+    const click = (i) => {
+      const walk = (r) => {
+        const b = [...r.querySelectorAll('.gm-kbtn')]
+        if (b[i]) { b[i].click(); return true }
+        for (const el of r.querySelectorAll('*')) if (el.shadowRoot && walk(el.shadowRoot)) return true
+        return false
+      }
+      return walk(document)
+    }
+    const m = window.__grMap
+    const before = m.queryRenderedFeatures({ layers: ['gr-pins'] }).length
+    click(2)
+    // ★ WAIT FOR IDLE, not a fixed sleep. setFilter is applied asynchronously and the
+    // layer re-renders after it; querying on a 900ms timer read the layer MID-TRANSITION
+    // and still saw tier 1 and 2 features. MEASURED at 1 failure in 3 runs — a gate that
+    // fails a third of the time on correct code is a gate that gets switched off, which
+    // is worse than not having written it. The file's own header says to wait for idle
+    // before counting; clause 4 was not doing it.
+    await new Promise((r) => { m.once('idle', r); setTimeout(r, 6000) })
+    const after = m.queryRenderedFeatures({ layers: ['gr-pins'] })
+    return { before, after: after.length, tiers: [...new Set(after.map((f) => f.properties.tier))] }
+  })
+  if (!(filtered.after > 0 && filtered.after < filtered.before)) {
+    fails.push(`gap filter did not reduce the layer (${filtered.before} -> ${filtered.after})`)
+  }
+  if (filtered.tiers.length !== 1 || filtered.tiers[0] !== 0) {
+    fails.push(`gap filter left tiers ${JSON.stringify(filtered.tiers)}, expected only [0]`)
+  }
+
+  if (pageErrors.length) fails.push(`page error: ${pageErrors[0].slice(0, 120)}`)
+
+  if (fails.length) {
+    console.error(`GOSPEL-MAP: FAIL — ${fails.length} problem(s):`)
+    for (const f of fails) console.error(`  ${f}`)
+    process.exit(1)
+  }
+  console.log(`GOSPEL-MAP: PASS — ${st.pins} pins rendered; "${opened.pg}" (${opened.lang}) opens with`)
+  console.log(`  a named language; all ${linkCount} links in the index are on screened publishers;`)
+console.log(`  the table link carries iso=${opened.iso}; the gap filter`)
+  console.log(`  cuts ${filtered.before} features to ${filtered.after}, all tier 0.`)
+} finally {
+  await browser.close()
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d24c0b604..e756370f8 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
     "build:unlocked": "bun run check:template-literal && bun run check:mjs-parse && bun run check:coverage-consistent && bun run check:sfc-parse && bun run check:tab-radius && bun run check:synced-css && bun run check:wp-embed && bun run check:doc-scripts && bun run library-index && bun run check:library-index && bun run clean && bun run token && for d in plugin-designs/*/; do BUNDLE=$(basename \"$d\") bun x vite build || exit 1; done && bun run tree && bun run check:drop && bun run check:parse && bun run verify && bun run check:sri && bun run check:public-hygiene && bun run check:label-joins && bun run check:facet-cascade && bun run check:facet-one-field && bun run check:heartbeat && bun run check:kpi-unit && bun run check:composite-reg && bun run check:descriptions && bun run check:no-abs-paths && bun run check:no-codename && bun run check:dep-names && bun run check:composite-srcs && bun run check:embed-targets && bun run check:nested-token && bun run gallery",
     "check:template-literal": "node internal/template-literal-check.mjs",
     "verify:map-paint": "node internal/verify-map-paint.mjs",
+    "verify:gospel-map": "node internal/verify-gospel-map.mjs   # the gospel-resources MAP: pins render (not merely load), a tap opens a named group, EVERY link in the index is on a screened publisher, the table deep-link carries the group's ISO, and the gap filter leaves only tier 0. Needs a server (bun run serve); SKIPS loudly without one.",
     "check:sri": "node internal/sri-consistency-check.mjs",
     "check:composite": "node internal/check-composite-freshness.mjs   # a COMPOSITE is a COPY taken at its own build time: fails if a nested child's source is newer than the parent's bundle. NOT in build:unlocked on purpose — there everything was just built, so it could never catch the real case (a PARTIAL build). Run it before PUBLISH.",
     "check:shots": "node internal/check-shot-freshness.mjs   # a README screenshot that predates the bundle it shows is a picture telling a lie — and it looks IDENTICAL to a current one. Compares each shot's PNG against the BUILT BUNDLE it renders (not raw sources: an unbuilt edit is not yet in any leaf). Fix: node internal/readme-shots.mjs",