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.