Micah’s Idols

17 There was a man named Micah. He lived in the mountains of Ephraim. ² He said to his mother, “You remember the 28 pounds of silver that were taken from you. I heard you say a curse about it. I have the silver with me. I took it.”

His mother said, “The Lord bless you, my son!”

³ Micah gave the 28 pounds of silver to his mother. Then she said, “I will give this silver to the Lord. I will have my son make a carved idol and an idol of melted silver. So I will give the silver back to you.”

⁴ So he gave the silver back to his mother. She took about 5 pounds of the silver and gave it to a silversmith. He used it to make a carved idol and an idol of melted silver. The idols were put in Micah’s house. ⁵ Micah had a temple for worshiping idols. He made a vest for a priest and some household idols. Then Micah chose one of his sons to be his priest. ⁶ At that time the Israelites did not have a king. So everyone did what he thought was right.

⁷ There was a young man who was a Levite.^[a] He was from the city of Bethlehem in the land of Judah. He had been living with the people of Judah. ⁸ He left Bethlehem to look for another place to live. On his way he came to Micah’s house. It was in the mountains of Ephraim. ⁹ Micah asked him, “Where have you come from?”

He answered, “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I’m looking for a place to live.”

¹⁰ Then Micah said to him, “Live with me. Be my father and my priest. I will give you 4 ounces of silver each year. I will also give you clothes and food.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ The young Levite agreed to live with Micah. He became like one of Micah’s own sons. ¹² Micah made him a priest. And he lived in Micah’s house. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know the Lord will be good to me. I know this because I have a Levite as my priest!”