Iudicum 17
1 Fuit eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas,
Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim
2 qui dixit matri suæ: Mille et centum argenteos, quos separaveras tibi, et super quibus me audiente iuraveras, ecce ego habeo, et apud me sunt. Cui illa respondit: Benedictus filius meus Domino.
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 Reddidit ergo eos matri suæ, quæ dixerat ei: Consecravi et vovi hoc argentum Domino, ut de manu mea suscipiat filius meus, et faciat sculptile atque conflatile: et nunc trado illud tibi.
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 Reddidit igitur eos matri suæ: quæ tulit ducentos argenteos, et dedit eos argentario, ut faceret ex eis sculptile atque conflatile, quod fuit in domo Michæ.
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 Qui ædiculam quoque in ea Deo separavit, et fecit ephod, et theraphim, id est, vestem sacerdotalem, et idola: implevitque unius filiorum suorum manum, et factus est ei sacerdos.
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 diebus illis non erat rex in Israel, sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
7 Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Iuda, ex cognatione eius: eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi.
And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
8 Egressusque de civitate Bethlehem, peregrinari voluit ubicumque sibi commodum reperisset. Cumque venisset in montem Ephraim, iter faciens, et declinasset parumper in domum Michæ,
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 interrogatus est ab eo unde venisset. Qui respondit: Levita sum de Bethlehem Iuda, et vado ut habitem ubi potuero, et utile mihi esse perspexero.
“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 Dixitque Michas: Mane apud me, et esto mihi parens ac sacerdos: daboque tibi per annos singulos decem argenteos, ac vestem duplicem, et quæ ad victum sunt necessaria.
“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 Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis.
and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.
12 implevitque Michas manum eius, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se,
Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.
13 Nunc scio, dicens, quod benefaciet mihi Deus habenti Levitici generis sacerdotem.
Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
