Judges 17

CHAPTER 17

Micah’s Idolatry

¹Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

²He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and spoke of it ¹in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; it was I who took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.”

³And he then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly set apart the silver from my hand as holy to Yahweh for my son ^ato make a graven image and a molten image; so now I will return ¹them to you.”

⁴So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith. And he made ¹them into a graven image and a molten image, and ²they were in the house of Micah.

⁵And the man Micah had a ^1ashrine, and he made an ^bephod and ^2chousehold idols and ³ordained one of his sons, ^dand he became his priest.

⁶In those days ^athere was no king in Israel; ^bevery man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷And there was a young man from ^aBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was sojourning there.

⁸Then the man went from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to sojourn wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the ^ahill 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 from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn wherever I may find a place.”

¹⁰Micah then said to him, “Remain with me and be ^aa father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in.

¹¹And the Levite was willing to remain with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.

¹²So Micah ¹ordained the Levite, and the young man ^abecame his priest and ²lived in the house of Micah.

¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will prosper me because I have a Levite as priest.”