Judges 17

Micah and the Levite

17There was a man of ^tthe hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ²And 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, ^u“Blessed be my son by the Lord.” ³And 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 ^va carved image and ^wa metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” ⁴So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother ^xtook 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. ⁵And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made ^yan ephod and ^zhousehold gods, and ^aordained¹ one of his sons, who became his priest. ^6bIn those days there was no king in Israel. ^cEveryone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷Now there was a young man of ^dBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. ⁸And 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 ^ethe hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. ⁹And 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.” ¹⁰And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me ^fa 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. ¹¹And the Levite ^gwas content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹²And Micah ^hordained the Levite, and the young man ⁱbecame his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”