Micah's Idols

17 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,^[a] and appointed one of his sons as his priest. ^6 (A)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.”^{[b] 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.”