Judges 17–21

Micah’s Idolatry

17Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was ^aMicah. ²And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you ^bput a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”

And his mother said, ^c“May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!” ³So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to ^dmake a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” ⁴Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother ^etook two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵The man Micah had a ^fshrine, and made an ^gephod and ^hhousehold ¹idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶ⁱIn those days there was no king in Israel; ^jeveryone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷Now there was a young man from ^kBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and ^lwas staying there. ⁸The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. ⁹And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”

So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.”

¹⁰Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, ^mand be a ⁿfather and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. ¹²So Micah ^oconsecrated ²the Levite, and the young man ^pbecame his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as ^qpriest!”

The Danites Adopt Micah’s Idolatry

18In ^athose days there was no king in Israel. And in those days ^bthe tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in; for until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. ²So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, men of valor from ^cZorah and Eshtaol, ^dto spy out the land and search it. They said to them, “Go, search the land.” So they went to the mountains of Ephraim, to the ^ehouse of Micah, and lodged there. ³While they were at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”

⁴He said to them, “Thus and so Micah did for me. He has ^fhired me, and I have become his priest.”

⁵So they said to him, “Please ^ginquire ^hof God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.”

⁶And the priest said to them, ⁱ“Go in peace. ¹The presence of the Lord be with you on your way.”

⁷So the five men departed and went to ^jLaish. They saw the people who were there, ^khow they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the ^lSidonians, and they had no ties ²with anyone.

⁸Then the spies came back to their brethren at ^mZorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What is your report?”

⁹So they said, ⁿ“Arise, let us go up against them. For we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good. Would you ^odo nothing? Do not hesitate to go, and enter to possess the land. ¹⁰When you go, you will come to a ^psecure people and a large land. For God has given it into your hands, ^qa place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. ¹²Then they went up and encamped in ^rKirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place ^sMahaneh Dan ³to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.) ¹³And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to ^tthe house of Micah.

^14uThen the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, “Do you know that ^vthere are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” ¹⁵So they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man—to the house of Micah—and greeted him. ¹⁶The ^wsix hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷Then ^xthe five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took ^ythe carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

¹⁹And they said to him, “Be quiet, ^zput your hand over your mouth, and come with us; ^abe a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” ²⁰So the priest’s heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people.

²¹Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them. ²²When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. ²³And they called out to the children of Dan. So they turned around and said to Micah, ^b“What ails you, that you have gathered such a company?”

²⁴So he said, “You have ^ctaken away my ⁴gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What ails you?’ ”

²⁵And the children of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest ⁵angry men fall upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household!” ²⁶Then the children of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

Danites Settle in Laish

²⁷So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; ^dand they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. ²⁸There was no deliverer, because it was ^efar from Sidon, and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs ^fto Beth Rehob. So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there. ²⁹And ^gthey called the name of the city ^hDan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.

³⁰Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of ⁶Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan ⁱuntil the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, ^jall the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

The Levite’s Concubine

19And it came to pass in those days, ^awhen there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from ^bBethlehem in Judah. ²But his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there four whole months. ³Then her husband arose and went after her, to ^cspeak ¹kindly to her and bring her back, having his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. So she brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young woman saw him, he was glad to meet him. ⁴Now his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, detained him; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there.

⁵Then it came to pass on the fourth day that they arose early in the morning, and he stood to depart; but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, ^d“Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.”

⁶So they sat down, and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please be content to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” ⁷And when the man stood to depart, his father-in-law urged him; so he lodged there again. ⁸Then he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they delayed until afternoon; and both of them ate.

⁹And when the man stood to depart—he and his concubine and his servant—his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is now drawing toward evening; please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end; lodge here, that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow go your way early, so that you may get ²home.”

¹⁰However, the man was not willing to spend that night; so he rose and departed, and came opposite ^eJebus (that is, Jerusalem). With him were the two saddled donkeys; his concubine was also with him. ¹¹They were near Jebus, and the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Come, please, and let us turn aside into this city ^fof the Jebusites and lodge in it.”

¹²But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners, who are not of the children of Israel; we will go on ^gto Gibeah.” ¹³So he said to his servant, “Come, let us draw near to one of these places, and spend the night in Gibeah or in ^hRamah.” ¹⁴And they passed by and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵They turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for no one…