¹⁷ And ^(A)the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took ^(B)the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

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.”

² So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, ^(A)from Zorah and from Eshtaol, ^(B)to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came ^(C)to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother ^(A)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 ^(B)an ephod and ^(C)household gods, and ^(D)ordained^[a] one of his sons, who became his priest.

The Idols of Babylon and the One True God

¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, ^(A)but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ¹⁹ So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, ^(B)that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that ^(C)you, O Lord, are God alone.”

² And the Philistines called for the priests and ^(A)the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” ³ They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ^(B)a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why ^(C)his hand does not turn away from you.” ⁴ And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden ^(D)tumors and five golden mice, ^(E)according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. ⁵ So you must make images of your ^(F)tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, ^(G)and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ^(H)he will lighten his hand from off you ^(I)and your gods and your land. ⁶ Why should you harden your hearts as ^(J)the Egyptians and ^(K)Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, ^(L)did they not send the people away, and they departed? ⁷ Now then, take and prepare ^(M)a new cart and two milk cows ^(N)on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. ⁸ And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side ^(O)the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ^(P)a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way ⁹ and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^(Q)Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^(R)his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”