Judges 17

Micahʼs Idolatryⓘ

Micah's stolen silver and household shrine¹Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim ²said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver^a that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.”

Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord!”

³And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the Lord for my sonʼs benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”

⁴So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver^b and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.

⁵Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained^c one of his sons as his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Micah hires a Levite as priest⁷And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah. ⁸This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micahʼs house in the hill country of Ephraim.

⁹“Where are you from?” Micah asked him.

“I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.”

¹⁰“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver^d per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.”

So the Levite went in ¹¹and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.

¹²Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”