Judges 17

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

And there was a man of mount Ephraim, and his name was Michaias.

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.”

And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver which you took of yourself, and [about which] you cursed me, and spoke in my ears, behold, the silver [is] with me; I took it: and his mother said, Blessed [be] my son of 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 he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I had wholly consecrated the money to the Lord out of my hand for my son, to make a graven and a molten [image], and now I will restore 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.

But he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, and he made it a graven and a molten image; and it was in the house of Michaias.

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;

And the house of Michaias [was] to him the house of God, and he made an ephod and theraphin, and he consecrated one of his sons, and he became to him a priest.

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

And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which 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 man in Bethleem of the tribe of Juda, and he [was] a Levite, and he was sojourning there.

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.

And the man departed from Bethleem the city of Juda to sojourn in whatever place he might find; and he came as far as mount Ephraim, and to the house of Michaias to accomplish his journey.

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.”

And Michaias said to him, Whence come you? and he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethleem Juda, and I go to sojourn in any place I may find.

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].

And Michaias 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 change of raiment, and your living.

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

And the Levite went and began to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.

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,

And Michaias consecrated the Levite, and he became to him a priest, and he was in the house of Michaias.

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

And Michaias said, Now I know that the Lord will do me good, because a Levite has become my priest.