Judges 17
1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.
2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, the ones you cursed and spoke of in my hearing—well, I have the silver. I took it.” His mother said, “May my son be blessed by the LORD!”
3 He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I have indeed dedicated this silver to the LORD, from my own hand, for my son, to make a carved image and a cast image. Now I am returning it to you.”
4 But he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made a carved image and a cast image from it. The image was placed in Micah’s house.
5 This man, Micah, had a shrine. He made an ephod and household idols, and he ordained one of his sons, who became his priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes.
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the clan of Judah. He was a Levite and was living there as a foreigner.
8 The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could find a place. As he traveled, he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to Micah’s house.
9 Micah asked him, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to live wherever I can find a place.”
10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be a father and priest to me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a change of clothes, and your food.” So the Levite went.
11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
12 Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and stayed in Micah’s house.
13 Micah said, “Now I know the LORD will do good to me, because I have a Levite as my priest.”
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