Judges 17:1-18:6

New American Standard Bible

Micah’s Idolatry

17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and also spoke it in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” ³ He then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly consecrate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son ^(A)to make a carved image and a cast metal image; so now I will return ^[a]them to you.” ⁴ So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made ^[b]them into a carved image and a cast metal image, and ^[c]they were in the house of Micah. ⁵ And the man Micah had a ^[d](B)shrine and he made an ^(C)ephod and ^[e](D)household idols, and ^[f]consecrated one of his sons, ^(E)so that he might become his priest. ⁶ In those days ^(F)there was no king in Israel; ^(G)everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man from ^(H)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was ^[g]staying there. ⁸ Then the man left the city, Bethlehem in Judah, to ^[h]stay wherever he would find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the ^(I)hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah. ⁹ Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to ^[i]stay wherever I may find a place.” ¹⁰ Micah then said to him, “Stay with me and be ^(J)a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a supply of clothing, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² So Micah ^[j]consecrated the Levite, and the young man ^(K)became his priest and ^[k]lived in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as a priest.”

Danites Seek Territory

18 ^(L)In those days there was no king of Israel; and ^(M)in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day ^[l]an inheritance had not ^[m]been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. ² So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, ^[n]valiant men from ^(N)Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” And they came to ^(O)the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and stayed overnight there. ³ When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” ⁴ He said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me, and he has hired me and ^(P)I have become his priest.” ⁵ Then they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.” ⁶ And the priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going ^[o]has the Lord’s approval.”