May
30
Judges
17, 18
Jdg
17:1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was
Micah.
Jdg
17:2 He said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces
of silver that were taken from you, about which you did utter a
curse, and did also speak it in my ears, behold, the silver is with
me; I took it. His mother said, Blessed be my son of Yahweh.
Jdg
17:3 He restored the eleven hundred pieces
of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I most certainly
dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make an
engraved image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to
you.
Jdg
17:4 When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two
hundred pieces
of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it an engraved
image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.
Jdg
17:5 The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and
teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Jdg
17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that
which was right in his own eyes.
Jdg
17:7 There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of
Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.
Jdg
17:8 The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to
sojourn where he could find a place,
and he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as
he traveled.
Jdg
17:9 Micah said to him, Where did you come from? He said to him, I
am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find
a place.
Jdg
17:10 Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a
priest, and I will give you ten pieces
of silver by the year, and a suit of clothing, and your food. So the
Levite went in.
Jdg
17:11 The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young
man was to him as one of his sons.
Jdg
17:12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his
priest, and was in the house of Micah.
Jdg
17:13 Then said Micah, Now know I that Yahweh will do me good,
seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
Jdg
18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days
the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for
to that day their
inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
Jdg
18:2 The children of Dan sent of their family five men from their
whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out
the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the
land. They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of
Micah, and lodged there.
Jdg
18:3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of
the young man the Levite; and they turned aside there, and said to
him, Who brought you here? and what do you in this place? and what do
you have here?
Jdg
18:4 He said to them, Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he
has hired me, and I am become his priest.
Jdg
18:5 They said to him, Ask counsel, please, of God, that we may know
whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
Jdg
18:6 The priest said to them, Go in peace: before Yahweh is your way
wherein you go.
Jdg
18:7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the
people who were therein, how they lived in security, after the manner
of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land,
possessing authority, that might put them
to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had
no dealings with any man.
Jdg
18:8 They came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their
brothers said to them, What do you say?
Jdg
18:9 They said, Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have
seen the land, and behold, it is very good: and are you still? don't
be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land.
Jdg
18:10 When you go, you shall come to a people secure, and the land
is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is
no want of anything that is in the earth.
Jdg
18:11 There set forth from there of the family of the Danites, out
of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girt with weapons of
war.
Jdg
18:12 They went up, and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah:
therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan, to this day; behold, it
is behind Kiriath Jearim.
Jdg
18:13 They passed there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to
the house of Micah.
Jdg
18:14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish
answered, and said to their brothers, Do you know that there is in
these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and an engraved image, and a
molten image? now therefore consider what you have to do.
Jdg
18:15 They turned aside there, and came to the house of the young
man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his
welfare.
Jdg
18:16 The six hundred men girt with their weapons of war, who were
of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.
Jdg
18:17 The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in
there, and took the engraved image, and the ephod, and the teraphim,
and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the
gate with the six hundred men girt with weapons of war.
Jdg
18:18 When these went into Micah's house, and fetched the engraved
image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest
said to them, What do you?
Jdg
18:19 They said to him, Hold your peace, put your hand on your
mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it
better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest
to a tribe and a family in Israel?
Jdg
18:20 The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the
teraphim, and the engraved image, and went in the midst of the
people.
Jdg
18:21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the
livestock and the goods before them.
Jdg
18:22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who
were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and
overtook the children of Dan.
Jdg
18:23 They cried to the children of Dan. They turned their faces,
and said to Micah, What ails you, that you come with such a company?
Jdg
18:24 He said, you have taken away my gods which I made, and the
priest, and have gone away, and what have I more? and how then do you
say to me, What ails you?
Jdg
18:25 The children of Dan said to him, "Don't let your voice be
heard among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your
life, with the lives of your household."
Jdg
18:26 The children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that
they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
Jdg
18:27 They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he
had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them
with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the city with fire.
Jdg
18:28 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and
they had no dealings with any man; and it was in the valley that lies
by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived therein.
Jdg
18:29 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan
their father, who was born to Israel: however the name of the city
was Laish at the first.
Jdg
18:30 The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image:
and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons
were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the
captivity of the land.
Jdg
18:31 So they set them up Micah's engraved image which he made, all
the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.