Judges 17

New King James Version

Micah’s Idolatry

17 Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose namewas^(A)Micah.² And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundredshekelsof silver that were taken from you, and on which you^(B)put a curse, even saying it in my ears—hereisthe silver with me; I took it.”

And his mother said,^(C)“May you beblessed by theLord, my son!”³ So when he had returned the eleven hundredshekelsof silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to theLordfor my son, to^(D)make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.”⁴ Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother^(E)took two hundredshekelsof silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵ The man Micah had a^(F)shrine, and made an^(G)ephod and^(H)household^[a]idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.^6 (I)In those daysthere wasno king in Israel;^(J)everyone didwhat wasright in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man from^(K)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; hewasa Levite, and^(L)was staying there.⁸ The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could finda place.Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”

So he said to him, “Iama Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to finda placeto stay.”

¹⁰ Micah said to him, “Dwell with me,^(M)and be a^(N)father and a priest to me, and I will give you tenshekelsof silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in.¹¹ Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him.¹² So Micah^(O)consecrated^[b]the Levite, and the young man^(P)became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah.¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that theLordwill be good to me, since I have a Levite as^(Q)priest!”