Judges 17

¹Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim named Micah.

²And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver which were taken from you, about which you took an oath and said in my hearing, I have given this silver to the Lord from my hand for myself, to make a pictured image and a metal image: see, I have the silver, for I took it: so now I will give it back to you. And his mother said, May the blessing of the Lord be on my son.

³And he gave back the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, and his mother said, I have made the silver holy to the Lord from me for my son, to make a pictured image and a metal image.

⁴So he gave the silver back to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a metal-worker who made a pictured image and a metal image from them: and it was in the house of Micah.

⁵And the man Micah had a house of gods; and he made an ephod and family gods and put one of his sons in the position of priest.

⁶In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did as seemed right to him.

⁷Now there was a young man living in Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah and a Levite, who was not a townsman of the place.

⁸And he went away from the town of Beth-lehem-judah, looking for somewhere to make his living-place; and on his journey he came to the 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 from Beth-lehem-judah, and I am looking for a living-place.

¹⁰Then Micah said to him, Make your living-place with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver a year and your clothing and food.

¹¹And the Levite said he would make his living-place with the man, and he became to him as one of his sons.

¹²And Micah gave the position to the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

¹³Then Micah said, Now I am certain that the Lord will do me good, seeing that the Levite has become my priest.

Judges 17

¹There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. .

²He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred 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." His mother said, "Blessed be my son of the Lord."

³He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, "I most certainly dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you."

⁴When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it an engraved image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.

⁵The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

⁶In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

⁷There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.

⁸The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he traveled.

⁹Micah said to him, "Where did you come from?" He said to him, "I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live."

¹⁰Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of clothing, and your food. So the Levite went in.

¹¹The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

¹²Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

¹³Then Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will do good to me, seeing I have a Levite as my priest."