¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that ^(A)in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.”

⁵ And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made ^(A)an ephod and ^(B)household gods, and ^(C)ordained^[a] one of his sons, who became his priest.

³ When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁴ And he said to them, “This is how Micah dealt with me: ^(A)he has hired me, and I have become his priest.”

¹⁹ And when they say to you, “Inquire of the ^(A)mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of ^(B)the dead on behalf of the living? ^20 (C)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ^(D)dawn.

²⁸ Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food this day.’” And the people were ^(A)faint.