Judges 18:1-15

Amplified Bible

Danites Seek Territory

18 In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance [of land] for themselves to live in, for until then an ^[a]inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. ² So the sons of Dan sent from the total number of their [extended] family five brave men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ When they passed near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” ⁴ And he said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me, and he has hired me and I have become his priest.” ⁵ And they said to him, “Please ask of God, so that we may know whether our journey on which we are going will be successful.” ⁶ The priest said to them, “Go in peace; the journey on which you are going is acceptable to the Lord.”

⁷ Then the five men went on and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, [how they were] living securely in the style of the Sidonians, quiet and peaceful; and there was no oppressive magistrate in the land humiliating them in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸ The five men came back [home] to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you have to report?” ⁹ They said, “Arise, let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good (fertile). Will you sit still and do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to take possession of the land. ¹⁰ When you enter, you will come to people [feeling] safe and secure with a spacious land [widely extended on all sides]; for God has given it into your hands—a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹ Then from the [tribal] family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they have called that place ^[b]Mahaneh-dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ They went on from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

Danites Take Micah’s Idols

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to scout the country of Laish said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, an image [of silver-plated wood], and a cast image [of solid silver]? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” ¹⁵ So they turned in that direction and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him how he was doing.