Iudicum 17
1 Fuit eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas,
Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
2 qui dixit matri suæ: Mille et centum argenteos, quos separaveras tibi, et super quibus me audiente juraveras, ecce ego habeo, et apud me sunt. Cui illa respondit: Benedictus filius meus Domino.
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 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 he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said: 'I verily dedicate the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore I will restore it unto thee.'
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.
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 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.
And the man Micah had a house of God, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
6 In diebus illis non erat rex in Israël, sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.
In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
7 Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Juda, ex cognatione ejus: eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi.
And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem in Judah — in the family of Judah — who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
8 Egressusque de civitate Bethlehem, peregrinari voluit ubicumque sibi commodum reperisset. Cumque venisset in montem Ephraim, iter faciens, et declinasset parumper in domum Michæ,
And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem in 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 interrogatus est ab eo unde venisset. Qui respondit: Levita sum de Bethlehem Juda, et vado ut habitem ubi potuero, et utile mihi esse perspexero.
And Micah said unto him: 'Whence comest thou?' And he said unto him: 'I am a Levite of Beth-lehem in Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may 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.
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 Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis.
And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.
12 Implevitque Michas manum ejus, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se:
And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
13 Nunc scio, dicens, quod benefaciet mihi Deus habenti Levitici generis sacerdotem.
Then said Micah: 'Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.'
