Judges 17

Micah’s Priest

17There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. ²He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about—here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you.” ^t

Then his mother said, “My son, you are blessed by the Lord!” ^u

³He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate ^vthe silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver.” ^w4So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image overlaid with silver, ^xand it was in Micah’s house.

⁵This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, ^yand installed one of his sons to be his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel; ^zeveryone did whatever he wanted. ^a

⁷There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah. ^b8The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.

⁹“Where do you come from?” Micah asked him.

He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to settle wherever I can find a place.”

¹⁰Micah replied, ^c“Stay with me and be my father ^dand priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in ¹¹and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. ¹²Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest ^eand lived in Micah’s house. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”