The Migration of Dan

18 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in; for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. ² So the Danites sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Esh′ta-ol, to spy out the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of E′phraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 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, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me: he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” ⁵ And they said to him, “Inquire of God, we pray thee, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” ⁶ And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”

⁷ Then the five men departed, and came to La′ish, and saw the people who were there, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sido′nians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking^[a] nothing that is in the earth, and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sido′nians and had no dealings with any one. ⁸ And when they came to their brethren at Zorah and Esh′ta-ol, their brethren 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 fertile. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, and enter in and possess the land. ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is broad; yea, God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

¹¹ And six hundred men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set forth from Zorah and Esh′ta-ol, ¹² and went up and encamped at Kir′iath-je′arim in Judah. On this account that place is called Ma′haneh-dan^[b] to this day; behold, it is west of Kir′iath-je′arim. ¹³ And they passed on from there to the hill country of E′phraim, and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of La′ish said to their brethren, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, teraphim, a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you will do.” ¹⁵ And they turned aside thither, and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him of his welfare.