Judges 17
Legacy Standard Bible
Micah’s Idolatry
17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and spoke of it [a]in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; it was I who took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.” 3 And he then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly set apart the silver from my hand as holy to Yahweh for my son (A)to make a graven image and a molten image; so now I will return [b]them to you.” 4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith. And he made [c]them into a graven image and a molten image, and [d]they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a [e](B)shrine, and he made an (C)ephod and [f](D)household idols and [g]ordained one of his sons, (E)and he became his priest. 6 In those days (F)there was no king in Israel; (G)every man did what was right in his own eyes.
7 And there was a young man from (H)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was sojourning there. 8 Then the man went from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to sojourn wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the (I)hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Remain with me and be (J)a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was willing to remain with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 So Micah [h]ordained the Levite, and the young man (K)became his priest and [i]lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will prosper me because I have a Levite as priest.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 17:2 Lit in my ears
- Judges 17:3 Lit it
- Judges 17:4 Lit it
- Judges 17:4 Lit it was
- Judges 17:5 Lit house of gods
- Judges 17:5 Heb teraphim
- Judges 17:5 Lit filled the hand of
- Judges 17:12 Lit filled the hand of
- Judges 17:12 Lit was
Judges 17
International Standard Version
Micah’s Descent into Idolatry
17 A man named Micah lived in the mountainous region[a] of the territory of[b] Ephraim. 2 He told his mother, “Do you remember[c] those 1,100 silver coins that were stolen from you and about which you uttered a curse when I could hear it? Well, I have the silver. I took it.”
So she replied, “May my son be blessed by the Lord.”
3 Her son gave back the 1,100 silver coins to his mother, and she said, “I’m totally giving this silver—from my hand to the Lord—so my son can make a carved image and a cast image. So I’m returning it to you.”
4 When he had returned the silver to his mother, his mother took 200 of the silver coins and handed them over to a silversmith. He crafted them into a carved image and into a cast image, and they were set up[d] in Micah’s house. 5 This man Micah had his own shrine,[e] had crafted his own ephod and some household idols,[f] and had installed one of his sons as a priest.
6 Back in those days, Israel didn’t yet have a king, so each person did whatever seemed right in his own opinion.
7 A young male descendant of Levi happened to be visiting there from Bethlehem in the territory of[g] Judah. 8 The man had left his city Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could. As he traveled along, he eventually arrived at Micah’s house in the mountainous region[h] of Ephraim, looking for work.
9 Micah asked him, “Where did you come from?”
He replied, “I’m a descendant of Levi from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to stay temporarily wherever I can find a place.”[i]
10 So Micah replied, “Come live with me! You can be a spiritual father[j] to me, as well as a priest. I’ll pay you ten silver coins a year, plus a priestly uniform[k] and an income.” So the descendant of Levi moved in. 11 The descendant of Levi agreed to live with the man, and the young man became like one of the family.[l] 12 Micah set up the descendant of Levi in ministry, and the young man became his priest while he lived in Micah’s house. 13 As for Micah, he kept saying, “Now I know the Lord will make me rich, because I have a descendant of Levi for a priest!”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 17:1 Or the hill country
- Judges 17:1 The Heb. lacks the territory of
- Judges 17:2 The Heb. lacks Do you remember
- Judges 17:4 The Heb. lacks set up
- Judges 17:5 Lit. own house of God
- Judges 17:5 Lit. and teraphim; i.e. images of pagan gods used in divination; and so throughout the book
- Judges 17:7 The Heb. lacks the territory of
- Judges 17:8 Or the hill country
- Judges 17:9 The Heb. lacks a place
- Judges 17:10 The Heb. lacks spiritual; cf. Judg 18:19
- Judges 17:10 Or a suit of clothes
- Judges 17:11 Lit. of his sons
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