Chapter 17

  And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.  

  And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah.  

  And he restored the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.  

  And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred [pieces] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.  

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

  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.  

  And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.  

  And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find [a place], and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.  

  And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find [a place].  

  And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten [pieces] of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.  

  And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.  

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

  Then said Micah, Now know I that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.