Iudicum 17
1 Fuitque eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas,
There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Micah.
2 qui dixit matri suae: 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 a Domino.
He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you spoke a curse, and which I heard—look here! I have the silver with me. I stole it.” His mother said, “May Yahweh bless you, my son!”
3 Consecravi enim et vovi hoc argentum Domino, ut de manu mea suscipiat filius meus, et faciat sculptile atque conflatile: et nunc trado illud tibi.
He restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother and his mother said, “I set apart this silver to Yahweh, for my son to make carved and cast metal figures. So now, I restore it to you.”
4 Reddidit igitur eos matri suae: quae tulit ducentos argenteos, et dedit eos argentario, ut faceret ex eis sculptile atque conflatile, quod fuit in domo Michae.
When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to a metal worker who made them into carved and cast metal figures, and they were placed in the house of Micah.
5 Qui aediculam 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.
The man Micah had a house of idols and he made an ephod and household gods, and he hired one of his sons to become 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, and 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.
Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the clan of Judah, who was a Levite. He stayed there to fulfill his duties.
8 Egressusque de civitate Bethlehem, peregrinari voluit ubicumque sibi commodum reperisset. Cumque venisset in montem Ephraim, iter faciens, et declinasset parumper in domum Michae,
The man left Bethlehem in Judah to go and find a place to live. As he journeyed, 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.
Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” The man said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am traveling to find a place where I might live.”
10 Dixitque Michas: Mane apud me, et esto mihi parens ac sacerdos: daboque tibi per annos singulos decem argenteos, ac vestem duplicem, et quae ad victum sunt necessaria.
Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your food.” So the Levite went into his house.
11 Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis.
The Levite was content to live with the man, and the young man became to Micah like one of his sons.
12 implevitque Michas manum eius, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se,
Micah set apart the Levite for sacred duties, and the young man became his priest, and was in Micah's house.
13 Nunc scio, dicens, quod benefaciet mihi Deus habenti Levitici generis sacerdotem.
Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will do good for me, because this Levite has become my priest.”
