The Daily Audio Bible

The False Gods of Micah

17 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ² He said to his mother, “There were 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you. And I heard you pray that the robber would be cursed. See, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May the Lord bring good to you, my son.” ³ He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And she said, “I set apart all the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son. It is to be used in making an object to look like a god. So I will return the silver to you.” ⁴ When he returned the silver to his mother, she gave 200 pieces to the man who works with silver. He made them into an object to look like a god for Micah’s house. ⁵ The man Micah had a special building where gods were worshiped. He made a holy vest and gods for the house. And he set apart one of his sons to be his religious leader. ⁶ There was no king in Israel in those days. Each man did what he thought was right.

⁷ Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite, of the family of Judah, and he was staying there. ⁸ He left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to find a place to live. As he traveled he came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim. ⁹ Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am going to stay where I may find a place.” ¹⁰ Then Micah said to him, “Live with me. Be a father and a religious leader to me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, new clothes, and your living.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ The Levite agreed to live with the man. And the young man was like a son to Micah. ¹² So Micah set apart the Levite. The young man became his religious leader and lived in Micah’s house. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will bring good to me because I have a Levite as my religious leader.”

Micah and the Danites

18 There was no king of Israel in those days. At that time the family of the Danites was looking for their own land to live in. For no land had been given to them yet among the families of Israel. ² So the people of Dan sent five men from all those in their family. They were men with strength of heart, from Zorah and Eshtaol, sent to look over the land. The people of Dan said to them, “Go and look over the land.” And the men came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim. They stayed there. ³ When they were near the house of Micah, they heard the voice of the young man, the Levite. They knew who he was, and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?” ⁴ The Levite said to them, “This is what Micah has done for me. He has hired me. I have become his religious leader.” ⁵ They said to him, “We beg you to ask God if all will go well for us as we travel.” ⁶ The religious leader said to them, “Go in peace. The way you are going is pleasing to the Lord.”

⁷ Then the five men left and came to Laish. They saw how the people lived there, quiet and feeling safe, like the Sidonians. There was no ruler in the land who would put them to shame for anything. They were far from the Sidonians and had nothing to do with anyone. ⁸ The five men returned to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol. Their brothers said to them, “What do you have to say?” ⁹ They answered, “Get ready. Let us go up against them. For we have seen their land and it is very good. Will you sit and do nothing? Do not wait. Go into the land and take it. ¹⁰ When you go in, you will come to people who feel very safe. They have much land, but God has given it to you. It will be a place where you will have all you need on earth.”

¹¹ Then 600 men from the family of Dan, from Zorah and Eshtaol, went out ready for war. ¹² They went to Kiriath-jearim in Judah and set up their tents. They called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day. It is west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ They went from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to look over the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that in these houses there are gods, a holy vest, and objects made to look like gods? So think about what you should do.” ¹⁵ They turned there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, at the home of Micah. They asked him how he was getting along. ¹⁶ The 600 men of the sons of Dan who were ready for war were standing by the gate. ¹⁷ The five men who had gone to look over the land went in the house. They took the objects made to look like gods, the holy vest and the other gods. The religious leader stood by the gate with the 600 men who were ready for war. ¹⁸ When the men went into Micah’s house and took the objects made to look like gods, the holy vest and the other gods, the religious leader said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They said to him, “Be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth and come with us. Be a father and a religious leader to us. Is it better for you to be a religious leader to the house of one man, or to a family in Israel?” ²⁰ The religious leader felt glad in his heart. He took the holy vest, the house gods and objects made to look like gods. And he went among the people.

²¹ Then they turned and left. They put the little ones, the animals and their riches in front of them. ²² They had gone a long way from the house of Micah. And the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and went after them. When they came to the sons of Dan, ²³ they called out to them. The sons of Dan turned around and said to Micah, “What is wrong with you? Why have you gathered together?” ²⁴ Micah said, “You have taken away my gods which I made. And you go away with the religious leader. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What is wrong with you?’” ²⁵ The sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us. Or angry men will kill you and those of your house.” ²⁶ Then the sons of Dan went on their way. Micah saw that they were too strong for him. So he returned to his house.

²⁷ The men of Dan took what Micah had made and the religious leader who had belonged to him. They came to Laish, to people who were quiet and felt safe. And they killed them with the sword. They burned the city with fire. ²⁸ There was no one to take them away from their trouble, because it was far from Sidon and they had nothing to do with anyone. It was in the valley near Beth-rehob. The sons of Dan built the city again, and lived in it. ²⁹ They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel. The name of the city had been Laish before. ³⁰ The people of Dan set up for themselves the object made to look like a god. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were religious leaders to the family of Dan until the day their land was taken. ³¹ They set up the false god that Micah had made, while the house of God was at Shiloh.

Nicodemus Asks Jesus about Life

3 There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a proud religious law-keeper and a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Teacher, we know You have come from God to teach us. No one can do these powerful works You do unless God is with Him.”

Jesus Tells of the New Kind of Birth

³ Jesus said to him, “For sure, I tell you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the holy nation of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? How can he get into his mother’s body and be born the second time?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “For sure, I tell you, unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit of God, he cannot get into the holy nation of God. ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ “Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to and you hear its sound. You do not know where it comes from or where it goes. It is the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit of God.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can this be?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Are you a teacher among the Jews and do not know these things? ¹¹ For sure, I tell you, We are talking about things We know. We tell of what We have seen. Yet you do not take Our words to be true. ¹² I tell you about things of the earth and you do not believe them. How will you believe if I tell you things about heaven?

¹³ “No one has gone up into heaven except the One Who came down from heaven. That One is the Son of Man *Who is in heaven. ¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. ¹⁵ Then whoever puts his trust in Him will have life that lasts forever. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Whoever puts his trust in God’s Son will not be lost but will have life that lasts forever. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to say it is guilty. He sent His Son so the world might be saved from the punishment of sin by Him. ¹⁸ Whoever puts his trust in His Son is not guilty. Whoever does not put his trust in Him is guilty already. It is because he does not put his trust in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹ “The Light has come into the world. And the Light is the test by which men are guilty or not. People love darkness more than the Light because the things they do are sinful. ²⁰ Everyone who sins hates the Light. He stays away from the Light because his sin would be found out. ²¹ The man who does what is right comes to the Light. What he does will be seen because he has done what God wanted him to do.”

The Lord Watches Over All His Works

104 Praise the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great. You are dressed with great honor and wonderful power. ² He covers Himself with light as with a coat. He spreads out the heavens like a tent. ³ He makes His home on the waters. He makes the clouds His wagon. He rides on the wings of the wind. ⁴ He makes the winds carry His news. He makes His helpers a burning fire.

⁵ He set the earth in its place so that it will stay that way forever. ⁶ You covered it with the sea as with a coat. The waters stood above the mountains. ⁷ The waters left at Your strong words. They went away in a hurry at the sound of Your thunder. ⁸ The mountains went up and the valleys went down to the place that You made for them. ⁹ You set a place that they may not pass over. The waters will never cover the earth again.

¹⁰ He sends rivers into the valleys. They flow between the mountains. ¹¹ They give water to all the animals of the field. The wild donkeys drink until they are no longer thirsty. ¹² The birds of the sky nest beside them. They sing among the branches. ¹³ He waters the mountains from His home above. The earth is filled with the fruit of His works.

¹⁴ He makes the grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to use. So He may bring food from the earth, ¹⁵ wine that makes man’s heart glad, oil to make his face shine, and food to make his heart strong. ¹⁶ The tall cedar trees that the Lord planted in Lebanon drink their fill. ¹⁷ The birds make their nests there. The stork has its nest in the green trees.

¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a safe place for the badgers. ¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the time of year. And the sun knows when to go down. ²⁰ You make darkness and it becomes night. Then all the wild animals among the trees come out. ²¹ The young lions make a loud noise as they go after meat. And they get their food from God. ²² They go to their homes and lie down when the sun rises. ²³ Then man goes out to his work and works until evening.

²⁴ O Lord, how many are Your works! You made them all in wisdom. The earth is full of what You have made.

²⁰ The poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but the rich man has many friends.

²¹ He who hates his neighbor sins, but happy is he who shows loving-favor to the poor.