Judges 17

Revised Geneva Translation

17 There was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah.

² And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you (on which you spoke a curse within my hearing), behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!”

³ And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had dedicated the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven and molten image. Now, therefore, I will give it to you again.”

⁴ And when he had restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made a graven and molten image from it. And it was in the house of Micah.

⁵ And this man, Micah, had a house of gods, and made an ephod and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who was his priest.

⁶ In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was good in his own eyes.

⁷ There was also a young man from Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite and had sojourned there.

⁸ And the man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem, Judah, to dwell wherever he could find. And as he journeyed, he came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah.

⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where have you come from?” And the Levite answered him, “I came from Bethlehem, Judah, and go to dwell wherever I may find.”

¹⁰ Then Micah said to him, “Dwell with me; and be to me a father and a priest. And I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, and a suit of clothes, and your food and drink.” So, the Levite went in.

¹¹ And the Levite was content to dwell with the man. And the young man was to him as one of his own sons.

¹² And Micah consecrated the Levite. And the young man was his priest and was in the house of Micah.

¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.”