Judges 17

1 And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah.3 And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.4 And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.5 And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.8 And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place, and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.12 And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.13 Then said Micah, Now know I that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

Judges 17

Micah's Idols

1 There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim.

2 He said to his mother, “When someone stole those 1,100 pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the thief. I heard you do it. Look, I have the money. I am the one who took it.”
His mother said, “May the Lord bless you, my son!” 3 He gave the money back to his mother, and she said, “To stop the curse from falling on my son, I myself am solemnly dedicating the silver to the Lord. It will be used to make a wooden idol covered with silver. So now I will give the pieces of silver back to you.”

4 Then he gave them back to his mother. She took 200 of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah's house.
5 This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod,t and appointed one of his sons as his priest.

6 There was no king in Israel at that time; all the people did just as they pleased.t
7 At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah. 8 He left Bethlehem to find somewhere else to live. While he was travelling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?”
He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for somewhere to live.”
10 Micah said, “Stay with me. Be my adviser and priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, some clothes, and your food.”t 11 The young Levite agreed to stay with Micah and became like a son to him. 12 Micah appointed him as his priest, and he lived in Micah's home. 13 Micah said, “Now that I have a Levite as my priest, I know that the Lord will make things go well for me.”