Danites Seek Territory

18 ^(A)In those days there was no king of Israel; and ^(B)in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day ^[a]an inheritance had not ^[b]been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. ² So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, ^[c]valiant men from ^(C)Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they came to ^(D)the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ When they were near the house of Micah, 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 He said to them, “Thus and so has Micah done to me, and he has hired me and ^(E)I have become his priest.” ⁵ They said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous.” ⁶ The priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going ^[d]has the Lord’s approval.”

⁷ Then the five men departed and came to ^(F)Laish and saw the people who were in it living in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no ^[e]ruler humiliating them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸ When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” ⁹ They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you ^[f]sit still? Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land. ¹⁰ When you enter, you will come to a secure people with a spacious land; for God has given it into your hand, ^(G)a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

¹¹ Then from the 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 called that place ^[g](H)Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is ^[h]west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

Danites Take Micah’s Idols

¹⁴ Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Do you know that there are in these houses ^(I)an ephod and ^[i]household idols and a graven image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” ¹⁵ They turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. ¹⁶ The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took ^(J)the graven image and the ephod and ^[j]household idols and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸ When these went into Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod and ^[k]household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They said to him, “Be silent, ^(K)put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us ^(L)a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” ²⁰ The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and ^[l]household idols and the graven image and went among the people.

²¹ Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the livestock and the valuables in front of them. ²² When they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house assembled and overtook the sons of Dan. ²³ They cried to the sons of Dan, who turned ^[m]around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you have assembled together?” ²⁴ He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” ²⁵ The sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, or else ^[n]fierce men will fall upon you and you will ^[o]lose your life, with the lives of your household.” ²⁶ So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

²⁷ Then they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and came to ^(M)Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. ²⁸ And there was no one to deliver them, because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley which is near ^(N)Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. ^29 (O)They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish. ³⁰ The sons of Dan set up for themselves ^(P)the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of ^(Q)Gershom, the son of ^[p]Manasseh, ^(R)he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the ^(S)house of God was at Shiloh.

God’s Deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

Believers United to Christ

7 Or do you not know, ^(A)brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? ² For ^(B)the married woman is bound by law to her ^[a]husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law ^[b]concerning the husband. ³ So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also were ^(C)made to die ^(D)to the Law ^(E)through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For while we were ^(F)in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were ^(G)aroused by the Law, were at work ^(H)in ^[c]the members of our body to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been ^(I)released from the Law, having ^(J)died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in ^(K)newness of ^(L)the ^[d]Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

^7 (M)What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? ^(N)May it never be! On the contrary, ^(O)I would not have come to know sin except ^[e]through the Law; for I would not have known about ^[f]coveting if the Law had not said, “^(P)You shall not ^[g]covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(Q)taking opportunity ^(R)through the commandment, produced in me ^[h]coveting of every kind; for ^(S)apart ^[i]from the Law sin is dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart ^[j]from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; ¹⁰ and this commandment, which was ^[k](T)to result in life, proved ^[l]to result in death for me; ¹¹ for sin, ^(U)taking an opportunity ^(V)through the commandment, ^(W)deceived me and through it killed me. ^12 (X)So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? ^(Y)May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

The Conflict of Two Natures

¹⁴ For we know that the Law is ^(Z)spiritual, but I am ^(AA)of flesh, ^(AB)sold ^[m](AC)into bondage to sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, ^(AD)I do not understand; for I am not practicing ^(AE)what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with ^(AF)the Law, confessing that the Law is good. ¹⁷ So now, ^(AG)no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my ^(AH)flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. ¹⁹ For ^(AI)the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, ^(AJ)I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

²¹ I find then ^(AK)the ^[n]principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God ^[o]in ^(AL)the inner man, ²³ but I see ^(AM)a different law in ^[p]the members of my body, waging war against the ^(AN)law of my mind and making me a prisoner ^[q]of ^(AO)the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from ^[r](AP)the body of this ^(AQ)death? ^25 (AR)Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh ^(AS)the law of sin.