Micah and the Levite

17 There was a man of ^(A)the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, ^(B)“Blessed be my son by the Lord.” ³ And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make ^(C)a carved image and ^(D)a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” ⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother ^(E)took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made ^(F)an ephod and ^(G)household gods, and ^(H)ordained^[a] one of his sons, who became his priest. ^6 (I)In those days there was no king in Israel. ^(J)Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man of ^(K)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. ⁸ And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to ^(L)the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. ⁹ And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” ¹⁰ And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me ^(M)a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in. ¹¹ And the Levite ^(N)was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² And Micah ^(O)ordained the Levite, and the young man ^(P)became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶ But I say, ^(A)walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^(B)the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For ^(C)the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^(D)to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸ But if you are ^(E)led by the Spirit, ^(F)you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now ^(G)the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, ^(H)divisions, ²¹ envy,^[a] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that ^(I)those who do^[b] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But ^(J)the fruit of the Spirit is ^(K)love, joy, peace, patience, ^(L)kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ^23 (M)gentleness, ^(N)self-control; ^(O)against such things there is no law.