The Daily Audio Bible

17 There was a man from the hills of Efrayim named Mikhay’hu. ² He said to his mother, “You know the 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you — you pronounced a curse about it, and you told me about it? Well, the money is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May Adonai bless my son,” ³ as he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. Then his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate this money of mine to Adonai, in order for my son to make a carved image overlaid with silver. So now I’m giving it back to you.” ⁴ But he returned the money to his mother, and she took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the metalworker, who made a carved image overlaid with silver which was put in Mikhay’hu’s house. ⁵ This man Mikhah owned a house of God; so he made a ritual vest and household gods and consecrated one of his sons, who became his cohen. ⁶ At that time there was no king in Isra’el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.

⁷ There was a young man from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, from the family of Y’hudah, who was a Levi. He had been staying ⁸ in Beit-Lechem, but he left there to find another place to live and came to the hills of Efrayim, where eventually he made his way to the house of Mikhah. ⁹ Mikhah asked him, “Where are you coming from?” He answered, “I am a Levi from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah, and I’m looking for a place to live.” ¹⁰ Mikhah replied, “Stay with me, and be a father and cohen for me; I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, in addition to your clothing and food.” So the Levi went in ¹¹ and agreed to stay with the man; the young man became like one of his sons. ¹² After Mikhah consecrated the Levi, the young man became his cohen and stayed there in Mikhah’s house. ¹³ Mikhah said, “Now I know that Adonai will treat me well, because I have a Levi for a cohen.

18 At that time there was no king in Isra’el, and it was also at that time that the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to claim ownership of and settle in, since they had not yet been given any land of their own among the tribes of Isra’el. ² The people of Dan sent five leading men from Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, representing their whole tribe, to spy out and explore the land. They instructed them, “Go, and explore the land.” They came to the hills of Efrayim, to the house of Mikhah, and stayed there. ³ While they were at Mikhah’s house they recognized the accent of the young man, the Levi, so they approached him and said, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is there for you here?” ⁴ He answered, “Here’s the arrangement Mikhah has made with me: he pays me a wage, and I serve as his cohen.” ⁵ They said to him, “Please ask God whether our journey will be successful.” ⁶ The cohen replied, “Don’t worry. Adonai is with you on this journey.”

⁷ The five men left, came to Layish and saw the people there living securely according to the customs of the Tzidonim, quietly and securely; since no one in the land was exercising authority that might shame them in any respect; moreover, they were far away from the Tzidonim and had no dealings with other peoples. ⁸ When they returned to their kinsmen in Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol, they asked them what they had to report. ⁹ They said, “Let’s go up and attack them. We’ve seen the land, and it’s excellent. Don’t delay; start moving! Go in, and take the land! ¹⁰ When you go, you will come to a people who feel safe. There’s plenty of land, the place lacks nothing, it has everything there is on earth, and God has given it to you.”

¹¹ So from the tribe of Dan 600 men equipped for war set out from there, from Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol. ¹² They went up and camped at Kiryat-Ye‘arim, in Y’hudah, which is why that place is called Machaneh-Dan [the camp of Dan] to this day (actually, it’s behind Kiryat-Ye‘arim). ¹³ From there they passed on into the hills of Efrayim and came to Mikhah’s house. ¹⁴ The men who had gone to spy out the land of Layish then said to their kinsmen, “Are you aware that in these buildings there is a ritual vest, household gods and a carved image overlaid with silver? Decide what you ought to do.” ¹⁵ They turned off the road and went to the house of the young Levi, that is, to Mikhah’s house, and asked how he was doing. ¹⁶ The 600 soldiers from Dan stayed at the gate, ¹⁷ while the five who had spied out the land went in and took the idol overlaid with silver, the vest and the household gods. The cohen had stayed with the 600 soldiers by the gate. ¹⁸ But when they went into Mikhah’s house and took the silver-covered image, the vest and the household gods, the cohen asked them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹ They replied, “Be quiet, keep your mouth shut, and come with us. Be a father and a cohen for us. Which is better? To be a cohen in the house of one man or to be cohen to a whole tribe and family in Isra’el?” ²⁰ This made the cohen feel very good; so he took the ritual vest, the household gods and the image and went off with the people. ²¹ So they turned and left, with their children, cattle and belongings going ahead of them.

²² When they were a good distance from Mikhah’s house, the men who lived in the houses near his got together [with him], overtook the people from Dan ²³ and began shouting at them. The people from Dan turned and said to Mikhah, “What’s wrong with you, that you’ve gathered such a crowd?” ²⁴ He answered, “You’ve taken away my god, which I made, and gone off with the cohen! What more have I got? How can you ask me, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” ²⁵ The men from Dan replied, “You had best say no more to us, because some of us might get angry and attack you. You could lose your life, and so might the others in your household.” ²⁶ Then the people from Dan went their way; and when Mikhah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. ²⁷ So they took what Mikhah had made and his cohen.

They came to Layish, to a quiet and trusting people. They attacked, killed them and burned down the city. ²⁸ No one came to rescue them, because it was far from Tzidon, and they had no dealings with other peoples. This was in the valley near Beit-Rechov.

Then the people of Dan rebuilt the city and settled there. ²⁹ They named the city Dan, after Dan their ancestor, who was born to Isra’el; although the city had previously been called Layish. ³⁰ The people of Dan set up the image for themselves. Y’honatan the son of Gershom, the son of M’nasheh, and his sons were cohanim for the tribe of the people of Dan until the day of the exile from the land. ³¹ Thus they erected for themselves Mikhah’s idol which he had made, and it remained there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

3 There was a man among the P’rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans. ² This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him.” ³ “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” ⁵ Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. ⁶ What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.”

⁹ Nakdimon replied, “How can this happen?” ¹⁰ Yeshua answered him, “You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, and you don’t know this? ¹¹ Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don’t accept our evidence! ¹² If you people don’t believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? ¹³ No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. ¹⁸ Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.

¹⁹ “Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won’t be exposed. ²¹ But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.”