Micah’s Idolatry

17 There was a man named Micah from the mountain region of Ephraim. ² He told his mother, “You were upset about the 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you. I even heard you put a curse on them. Here’s the silver. I took it!”

His mother said, “Yahweh bless you, my son!”

³ So Micah gave the 1,100 pieces of silver back to his mother. Then his mother said, “I dedicate this silver to Yahweh for my son’s benefit. I want to make a carved idol and a metal idol. So now I’m giving the silver back to you.”

⁴ When Micah returned the silver to his mother, she took 200 pieces of the silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made a carved idol and a metal idol. Both were placed in Micah’s home. ⁵ Micah owned a house of Elohim. He also made an ephod^[a] and household idols. He ordained one of his sons to be his priest. ⁶ In those days Israel didn’t have a king. Everyone did whatever he considered right.

⁷ There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. (Bethlehem belongs to the family of Judah.) He was a Levite but was living in Bethlehem. ⁸ This man left Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could find a place. He came to Micah’s house in the mountains of Ephraim to carry on his work.

⁹ Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?”

The man told him, “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I’m going to live wherever I can find a place.”

¹⁰ Micah told him, “Stay with me! Be a father and a priest to me. I’ll give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your room and board.”

The Levite accepted the offer ¹¹ and agreed to live with Micah. The young man became like one of Micah’s sons. ¹² Micah ordained the Levite. So the young man became his priest and a part of his family.

¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will be good to me. I have a Levite for my priest.”