Judges 17

1 And there is a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name [is] Micah,

Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim

2 and he says to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which have been taken of yours, and [of which] you have sworn, and also spoken in my ears; behold, the silver [is] with me, I have taken it”; and his mother says, “Blessed [is] my son of YHWH.”

said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver 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!”

3 And he gives back the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother says, “I had certainly sanctified the silver to YHWH, from my hand, for my son, to make a carved image, and a molten image; and now, I give it back to you.”

And 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 son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”

4 And he gives back the money to his mother, and his mother takes two hundred pieces of silver, and gives them to a refiner, and he makes them a carved image, and a molten image, and it is in the house of Micah.

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver 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.

5 As for the man Micah, he has a house of gods, and he makes an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrates the hand of one of his sons, and he is for a priest to him;

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.

6 in those days there is no king in Israel, each does that which is right in his own eyes.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

7 And there is a young man of Beth-Lehem-Judah, of the family of Judah, and he [is] a Levite, and he [is] a sojourner there.

And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.

8 And the man goes out of the city, out of Beth-Lehem-Judah, to sojourn where he finds, and comes to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to work his way.

This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 And Micah says to him, “Where do you come from?” And he says to him, “I [am] a Levite of Beth-Lehem-Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I find.”

“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 And Micah says to him, “Dwell with me, and be for a father and for a priest to me, and I give ten pieces of silver to you for the days, and a suit of garments, and your sustenance”; and the Levite goes [in].

“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” So the Levite went in

11 And the Levite is willing to dwell with the man, and the young man is to him as one of his sons.

and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.

12 And Micah consecrates the hand of the Levite, and the young man is for a priest to him, and he is in the house of Micah,

Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.

13 and Micah says, “Now I have known that YHWH does good to me, for the Levite has been for a priest to me.”

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”