Judges - Chapter 17 | Good News Translation

  • 1. There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim.
  • 2. He told his mother, "When someone stole those eleven hundred pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the robber. I heard you do it. Look, I have the money. I am the one who took it." His mother said, "May the LORD bless you, my son!"
  • 3. He gave the money back to his mother, and she said, "To keep the curse from falling on my son, I myself am solemnly dedicating the silver to the LORD. It will be used to make a wooden idol covered with silver. So now I will give the pieces of silver back to you."
  • 4. Then he gave them back to his mother. She took two hundred of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah's house.
  • 5. This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest.
  • 6. There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted.
  • 7. At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah.
  • 8. He left Bethlehem to find another place to live. While he was traveling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.
  • 9. Micah asked him, "Where do you come from?" He answered, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a place to live."
  • 10. Micah said, "Stay with me. Be my adviser and priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, some clothes, and your food."
  • 11. The young Levite agreed to stay with Micah and became like a son to him.
  • 12. Micah appointed him as his priest, and he lived in Micah's home.
  • 13. Micah said, "Now that I have a Levite as my priest, I know that the LORD will make things go well for me."
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