1 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse 1Lit and also spoke it in my earsin my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Loʀᴅ.” 3 He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Loʀᴅ for my son AEx 20:4, 23; 34:17to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return 1Lit itthem to you.” 4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made 1Lit itthem into a graven image and a molten image, and 2Lit it wasthey were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a 1Lit house of godsAJudg 18:24shrine and he made an BJudg 8:27; 18:14ephod and 2Heb teraphimCGen 31:19household idols and 3Lit filled the hand ofconsecrated one of his sons, DNum 3:10that he might become his priest. 6 In those days AJudg 18:1; 19:1there was no king in Israel; BDeut 12:8; Judg 21:25every man did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man from AJudg 19:1; Ruth 1:1, 2; Mic 5:2; Matt 2:1Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was 1Or sojourningstaying there. 8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to 1Or sojournstay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the AJosh 24:33hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to 1Or sojournstay wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Dwell with me and be AJudg 18:19a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 So Micah 1Lit filled the hand ofconsecrated the Levite, and the young man ANum 16:10; 18:1-7became his priest and 2Lit waslived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Loʀᴅ will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”