Judges 17–21

Micah’s Idols

17There was a man named Micah who lived in the mountains of Ephraim. ²He said to his mother, “I heard you speak a curse about the twenty-eight pounds of silver that were taken from you. I have the silver with me; I took it.”

His mother said, “The Lord bless you, my son!”

³Micah gave the twenty-eight pounds of silver to his mother. Then she said, “I will give this silver to the Lord. I will have my son make an idol and a statue. So I will give the silver back to you.”

⁴When he gave the silver back to his mother, she took about five pounds and gave it to a silversmith. With it he made an idol and a statue, which stood in Micah’s house. ⁵Micah had a special holy place, and he made a holy vest and some household idols. Then Micah chose one of his sons to be his priest. ⁶At that time Israel did not have a king, so everyone did what seemed right.

⁷There was a young man who was a Levite ⁿ from the city of Bethlehem in Judah who was from the people of Judah. ⁸He left Bethlehem to look for another place to live, and on his way he came to Micah’s house in the mountains of Ephraim. ⁹Micah asked him, “Where are you from?”

He answered, “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I’m looking for a place to live.”

¹⁰Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father and my priest. I will give you four ounces of silver each year and clothes and food.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹He agreed to live with Micah and became like one of Micah’s own sons. ¹²Micah made him a priest, and he lived in Micah’s house. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know the Lord will be good to me, because I have a Levite as my priest.”

Dan’s Family Captures Laish

18At that time Israel did not have a king. And at that time the tribe of Dan was still looking for a land where they could live, a land of their own. The Danites had not yet been given their own land among the tribes of Israel. ²So, from their family groups, they chose five soldiers from the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out and explore the land. They were told, “Go, explore the land.”

They came to the mountains of Ephraim, to Micah’s house, where they spent the night. ³When they came near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. ⁿ So they stopped there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing here? Why are you here?”

⁴He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, “He hired me. I am his priest.”

⁵They said to him, “Please ask God if our journey will be successful.”

⁶The priest said to them, “Go in peace. The Lord is pleased with your journey.”

⁷So the five men left. When they came to the city of Laish, they saw that the people there lived in safety, like the people of Sidon. They thought they were safe and had plenty of everything. They lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone else.

⁸When the five men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their relatives asked them, “What did you find?”

⁹They answered, “We have seen the land, and it is very good. We should attack them. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t wait! Let’s go and take that land! ¹⁰When you go, you will see there is plenty of land—plenty of everything! The people are not expecting an attack. Surely God has handed that land over to us!”

¹¹So six hundred Danites left Zorah and Eshtaol ready for war. ¹²On their way they set up camp near the city of Kiriath Jearim in Judah. That is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is named Mahaneh Dan ⁿ to this day. ¹³From there they traveled on to the mountains of Ephraim. Then they came to Micah’s house.

¹⁴The five men who had explored the land around Laish said to their relatives, “Do you know in one of these houses there are a holy vest, household gods, an idol, and a statue? You know what to do.” ¹⁵So they stopped at the Levite’s house, which was also Micah’s house, and greeted the Levite. ¹⁶The six hundred Danites stood at the entrance gate, wearing their weapons of war. ¹⁷The five spies went into the house and took the idol, the holy vest, the household idols, and the statue. The priest and the six hundred men armed for war stood by the entrance gate.

¹⁸When the spies went into Micah’s house and took the image, the holy vest, the household idols, and the statue, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹They answered, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us and be our father and priest. Is it better for you to be a priest for one man’s house or for a tribe and family group in Israel?” ²⁰This made the priest happy. So he took the holy vest, the household idols, and the idol and went with the Danites. ²¹They left Micah’s house, putting their little children, their animals, and everything they owned in front of them.

²²When they had gone a little way from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called out and caught up with them. ²³The men with Micah shouted at the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you? Why have you been called out to fight?”

²⁴Micah answered, “You took my gods that I made and my priest. What do I have left? How can you ask me, ‘What’s the matter?’ ”

²⁵The Danites answered, “You should not argue with us. Some of our angry men might attack you, killing you and your family.” ²⁶Then the Danites went on their way. Micah knew they were too strong for him, so he turned and went back home.

²⁷Then the Danites took what Micah had made and his priest and went on to Laish. They attacked those peaceful people and killed them with their swords and then burned the city. ²⁸There was no one to save the people of Laish. They lived too far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else. Laish was in a valley near Beth Rehob.

The people of Dan rebuilt the city and lived there. ²⁹They changed the name of Laish to Dan, naming it for their ancestor Dan, one of the sons of Israel.

³⁰The people of Dan set up the idols in the city of Dan. Jonathan son of Gershom, Moses’ son, and his sons served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the land was captured. ³¹The people of Dan set up the idols Micah had made as long as the Holy Tent of God was in Shiloh.

A Levite and His Servant

19At that time Israel did not have a king.

There was a Levite who lived in the faraway mountains of Ephraim. He had taken a slave woman from the city of Bethlehem in the land of Judah to live with him, ²but she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah and stayed there for four months. ³Then her husband went to ask her to come back to him, taking with him his servant and two donkeys. When the Levite came to her father’s house, she invited him to come in, and her father was happy to see him. ⁴The father-in-law, the young woman’s father, asked him to stay. So he stayed for three days and ate, drank, and slept there.

⁵On the fourth day they got up early in the morning. The Levite was getting ready to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself by eating something. Then go.” ⁶So the two men sat down to eat and drink together. After that, the father said to him, “Please stay tonight. Relax and enjoy yourself.” ⁷When the man got up to go, his father-in-law asked him to stay. So he stayed again that night. ⁸On the fifth day the man got up early in the morning to leave. The woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait until this afternoon.” So the two men ate together.

⁹When the Levite, his slave woman, and his servant got up to leave, the father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said, “It’s almost night. The day is almost gone. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow morning you can get up early and go home.” ¹⁰But the Levite did not want to stay another night. So he took his two saddled donkeys and his slave woman and traveled toward the city of Jebus (also called Jerusalem).

¹¹As the day was almost over, they came near Jebus. So the servant said to his master, “Let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites, and spend the night here.”

¹²But his master said, “No. We won’t go inside a foreign city. Those people are not Israelites. We will go on to the city of Gibeah.” ¹³He said, “Come on. Let’s try to make it to Gibeah or Ramah so we can spend the night in one of those cities.” ¹⁴So they went on. The sun went down as they came near Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin. ¹⁵They stopped there to spend the night. They came to the public square of the city and sat down, but no one invited them home to spend the night.

¹⁶Finally, in the evening an old man came in from his work in the fields. His home was in the mountains of Ephraim, but now he was living in Gibeah. (The people of Gibeah were from the tribe of Benjamin.) ¹⁷He saw the traveler in the public square and asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

¹⁸The Levite answered, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to my home in the mountains of Ephraim. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah, but now I am going to the Holy Tent of the Lord. No one has invited me to stay in his house. ¹⁹We already have straw and food for our donkeys and bread and wine for me, the young woman, and my servant. We don’t need anything.”

²⁰The old man said, “You are welcome to stay at my house. Let me give you anything you need, but don’t spend the night in the public square.” ²¹So the old man took the Levite into his house, and he fed their donkeys. They washed their feet and had something to eat and drink.

²²While they were enjoying themselves, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house. We want to have sexual relations with him.”

²³The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends. Don’t be so evil. This man is a guest in my house. Don’t do this terrible thing! ²⁴Look, here are my daughter, who has never had sexual relations before, and the man’s slave woman. I will bring them out to you now. Do anything you want with…