Iudicum 17
1 Fuitque eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas,
There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose 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 eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May the LORD bless 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 eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will 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 silversmith, who made a carved image and a molten image out of it. It was 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 gods, 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 Israel, sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
7 Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Iuda, ex cognatione eius: eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi.
There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.
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 departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled.
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 did you come from?” He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to 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, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in.
11 Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis.
The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.
12 implevitque Michas manum eius, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se,
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 Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”
