The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.

Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves.

When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth.

and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

The Danites Settle in Laish

In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.” So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.

When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, “How did you find things?”

Then six hundred men of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.

On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day.

Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their fellow Danites, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods and an image overlaid with silver? Now you know what to do.”

The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance of the gate.

When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites.

As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”

The Danites answered, “Don’t argue with us, or some of the men may get angry and attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”

So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.

There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there.

They named it Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city used to be called Laish.

There the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.

The Israelites Punish the Benjamites

Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah.

and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin.

So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.