What this is
Verse of the Day is a single small JavaScript file a church webmaster drops into an existing site. Once installed, today’s verse appears wherever they placed the target div. The verse advances by calendar day, so everyone visiting on the same day sees the same passage — it is a day, not a lottery.
The file ships with around 290 carefully curated verses (KJV, public domain) and a handful of special days pinned to the calendar — Christmas, New Year, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and a few others. Edit the list to suit your congregation if you like.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” — Psalm 119:105 (KJV)
It is free. No accounts, no API keys, no telemetry, no upsell. The whole widget is a single readable JavaScript file you can audit in an afternoon.
See it live
This is the actual widget — the same file you would install on your own site. It is updating once per day from the verse list bundled inside lt-votd.js.
— Today, on this very page —
Reload the page — you’ll see the same verse. Come back tomorrow — you’ll see a different one. The selection is based on the calendar date, not a coin flip.
Install
Download the zip above and extract it. Upload lt-votd.js (and optionally lt-votd.css) to your web server. Then, in the page where you want the verse to appear, add these three lines:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="lt-votd.css"> <div id="lt-votd"></div> <script src="lt-votd.js"></script>
That is the entire install. The file is small (around 80 KB), so visitors will not notice the page got heavier.
If your site already has its own typography you like, skip the stylesheet line and add data-style="plain" to the div:
<div id="lt-votd" data-style="plain"></div> <script src="lt-votd.js"></script>
Options
Two styles, set with a data-style attribute on the target div:
| Attribute | Effect |
|---|---|
data-style="card" (default) |
Parchment card with serif text and a small “Verse of the Day” label. Requires the stylesheet. |
data-style="plain" |
No card chrome — inherits the host site’s fonts and colors. Stylesheet not needed. |
Multiple placements on one page
Use id="lt-votd" on the first one, and data-lt-votd as an attribute on any other places you want the verse to appear:
<div id="lt-votd"></div> <!-- ...later in the page... --> <div data-lt-votd></div>
Editing the verse list
Open lt-votd.js in any plain text editor. Near the top you will see:
var V = [ ['John 3:16', 'For God so loved the world...'], ['Romans 5:8', 'But God commendeth...'], ... ];
Add, remove, or reorder entries. Each line is a pair of quoted strings: the reference, then the verse text. Save the file and reload your page; the rotation updates immediately.
Below the rotation you will find a SPECIAL map — verses pinned to specific calendar dates (Christmas, New Year, etc.). The keys are in "MM-DD" form. Edit those the same way.
Privacy
This widget makes zero external requests.
The verses are bundled inside the JavaScript file. No analytics, no tracking pixels, no third-party scripts, no “phone home” calls. Your visitors are not logged or counted by anyone. You can read the entire source in a few minutes — it is one plain JavaScript file.
If a future version ever introduces any kind of network call or tracking, this paragraph will be the first thing to change.
The Scripture text is from the Authorized Version (King James, 1611) and is public domain in the United States.
Free to use, share, and modify for any purpose. No attribution required. If it serves your people, the only thanks asked is a prayer for the work.