a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place . 10 And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy sustenance. So the Levite went in. [1] 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then said Micah, Now I know that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest.
CHAP. 18.
1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their land, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. [2]
3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in there, and said to him, Who brought thee here? and what makest thou in this place ? and what hast thou here?
4 And he said to them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.
5 And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way in which ye go.
7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. [3] [4]
8 And they came to their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said to them, What say ye?
9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.
10 When ye go, ye shall come to a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is on the earth.
11 And there went from there of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. [5]
12 And they went up, and encamped in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: therefore they called that place Mahanehdan to this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.
13 And they passed from there to mount Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said to their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.
15 And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and greeted him. [6]
16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.
17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
18 And these went into Micah’s house, and brought the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest to them, What do ye?
19 And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest to the house of one man, or that thou shouldest be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?
20 And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the possessions before them.
22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.
23 And they cried to the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? [7]
24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye have gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say to me, What aileth thee?
