Judges 17

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Micah and the Levite

17 There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ² He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and even spoke it in my hearing—that silver is in my possession; I took it, but now I will return it to you.”^[a] And his mother said, “May my son be blessed by the Lord!” ³ Then he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an idol of cast metal.”^{(A) 4} So when he returned the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into an idol of cast metal, and it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim and installed one of his sons, who became his priest.^{(B) 6} In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.^(C)

⁷ Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the clan of Judah. He was a Levite residing there.^{(D) 8} This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could find a place. He came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim to carry on his work.^{[b] 9} Micah said to him, “From where do you come?” He replied, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to live wherever I can find a place.” ¹⁰ Then Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your living.”^{[c](E) 11} The Levite agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² So Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah.^{(F) 13} Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me because the Levite has become my priest.”