Micah and the Levite

17 There was a man of ^(A)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 ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, ^(B)“Blessed be my son by the Lord.” ³ And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make ^(C)a carved image and ^(D)a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” ⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother ^(E)took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made ^(F)an ephod and ^(G)household gods, and ^(H)ordained^[a] one of his sons, who became his priest. ^6 (I)In those days there was no king in Israel. ^(J)Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man of ^(K)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. ⁸ And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to ^(L)the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. ⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” ¹⁰ And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me ^(M)a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in. ¹¹ And the Levite ^(N)was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² And Micah ^(O)ordained the Levite, and the young man ^(P)became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”