14 It occurred one Sabbath, when [Jesus] went for a meal at the house of one of the ruling Pharisees, that they were [engaged in] watching Him [closely].

² And behold, [just] in front of Him there was a man who had dropsy.

³ And Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, Is it lawful and right to cure on the Sabbath or not?

⁴ But they kept silent. Then He took hold [of the man] and cured him and ^[a]sent him away.

⁵ And He said to them, Which of you, having a son ^[b]or a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not at once pull him out on the Sabbath day?

⁶ And they were unable to reply to this.

⁷ Now He told a parable to those who were invited, [when] He noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, saying to them,

⁸ When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not recline on the chief seat [in the place of honor], lest a more distinguished person than you has been invited by him,^(A)

⁹ And he who invited both of you will come to you and say, Let this man have the place [you have taken]. Then, with humiliation and a guilty sense of impropriety, you will begin to take the lowest place.

¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes in, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher! Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit [at table] with you.

¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank).

¹² Jesus also said to the man who had invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, lest perhaps they also invite you in return, and so you are paid back.

¹³ But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind.

¹⁴ Then you will be blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[c]to be envied), because they have no way of repaying you, and you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (upright).

¹⁵ When one of those who reclined [at the table] with Him heard this, he said to Him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[d]to be envied) is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!

¹⁶ But Jesus said to him, A man was once giving a great supper and invited many;

¹⁷ And at the hour for the supper he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for all is now ready.

¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses and to beg off. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of land, and I have to go out and see it; I beg you, have me excused.

¹⁹ And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine and ^[e]put my approval on them; I beg you, have me excused.

²⁰ And another said, I have married a wife, and because of this I am unable to come.^(B)

²¹ So the servant came and reported these [answers] to his master. Then the master of the house said in wrath to his servant, Go quickly into the ^[f]great streets and the small streets of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.

²² And the servant [returning] said, Sir, what you have commanded me to do has been done, and yet there is room.

²³ Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges and urge and constrain [them] to yield and come in, so that my house may be filled.

²⁴ For I tell you, not one of those who were invited shall taste my supper.

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17 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

² And he said to his mother, The 1,100 shekels of silver that were taken from you, about which you cursed and also spoke about in my hearing, behold, I have the silver with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be you by the Lord, my son!

³ He restored the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, and she said, I had truly dedicated the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will restore it to you.

⁴ So when he restored the money to his mother, she took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made of it a graven image and a molten image; and they were in the house of Micah.

⁵ And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod and teraphim and dedicated one of his sons, who became his priest.

⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ And there was a young man in Bethlehem of Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.

⁸ And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place, and as he journeyed he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.

⁹ And Micah said to him, From where do you come? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

¹⁰ And Micah said to him, Dwell with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver each year, a suit of clothes, and your living. So the Levite went in.

¹¹ And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was to Micah as one of his sons.

¹² And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah.

¹³ Then said Micah, Now I know that the Lord will favor me, since I have a Levite to be my priest.

18 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no [sufficient] inheritance had been acquired by them among the tribes of Israel.

² So the Danites sent from the whole number of their tribe five brave men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and to explore it, and they said to them, Go, explore the land. They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

³ When they went by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite, and they turned aside there and said to him, Who brought you here? And what do you do in this place? And what have you here?

⁴ And he said to them, Thus and thus Micah deals with me and has hired me, and I am his priest.

⁵ And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray you, of God that we may know whether our journey will be successful.

⁶ And the priest said to them, Go in peace. The way in which you go is before (under the eye of) the Lord.

⁷ Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they dwelt securely after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and feeling safe; and there was no magistrate in the land, who might put them to shame in anything or injure them; and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.

⁸ The five men came back to their brethren at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, What do you say?

⁹ They said, Arise, 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 people [feeling] safe and secure. The land is broad [widely extended on all sides]; and God has given it into your hands—a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.

¹¹ And there went from there of the tribe of the Danites, out of Zorah and Eshtaol, 600 men armed with weapons of war.

¹² And they went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan [camp of Dan] to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

¹³ And they passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

¹⁴ Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish said to their brethren, Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you have to do.

¹⁵ And they turned in that direction and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and saluted him.

¹⁶ Now the 600 Danites with their weapons of war stood at Micah’s gate.

¹⁷ And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up and entered the house and took the graven image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

¹⁸ And when these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, What are you doing?

¹⁹ And they said to him, Be still, put your hand over your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?

²⁰ And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

²¹ So they turned and departed and put the little ones, the cattle, and the baggage in front of them.

²² When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were Micah’s near neighbors were called out and overtook the Danites.

²³ They shouted to the Danites, who turned and said to Micah, What ails you, that you come with such a company?

²⁴ And he said, You take away my gods which I made and the priest, and go away; and what have I left? How can you say to me, What ails you?

²⁵ And the men of Dan said to him, Let not your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you and you lose your life with the lives of your household.

²⁶ And the Danites went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

²⁷ And they took the things which Micah had made, and his priest, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and feeling secure, and they smote them with the sword and burned the city.

²⁸ And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no business with anyone. It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and dwelt in it.

²⁹ They named the city Dan, after Dan their forefather who was born to Israel; however, the name of the city was Laish at first.

³⁰ And the Danites set up the graven image for themselves; and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

³¹ So they set them up Micah’s graven image which he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.