Chapter 17

¹ And there was a man of mount Ephraim, and his name was Michaias. ² And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver which thou tookest of thyself, and about which thou cursedst me, and spokest in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it: and his mother said, Blessed be my son of the Lord. ³ And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I had wholly consecrated the money to the Lord out of my hand for my son, to make a graven and a molten image, and now I will restore it to thee. ⁴ But he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave ¹them to a silversmith, and he made it a graven and a molten image; and it was in the house of Michaias. ⁵ And the house of Michaias was to him the house of God, and he made an ephod and theraphin, and he consecrated one of his sons, and he became to him a priest.

⁶ And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

⁷ And there was a young man in Bethleem of the tribe of Juda, and he was a Levite, and he was sojourning there. ⁸ And the man departed from Bethleem the city of Juda to sojourn in whatever place he might find; and he came as far as mount Ephraim, and to the house of Michaias to accomplish his journey. ⁹ And Michaias said to him, Whence comest thou? and he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethleem Juda, and I go to sojourn in any place I may find. ¹⁰ And Michaias said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest; and I will give thee ten pieces of silver by the ²year, and a change of raiment, and thy living. ¹¹ And the Levite went and began to dwell with the man; and the young man was to

342

him as one of his sons. ¹² And Michaias consecrated the Levite, and he became to him a priest, and he was in the house of Michaias. ¹³ And Michaias said, Now I know that the Lord will do me good, because a Levite has become my priest.

Chapter 18

¹ In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of Dan sought for itself an inheritance to inhabit, because no inheritance had fallen to it until that day in the midst of the tribes of the children of Israel. ² And the sons of Dan sent from their families five men of valour, from Saraa and from Esthaol, to spy out the land and to ³search it; and they said to them, Go and search out the land. And they came as far as the mount of Ephraim to the house of Michaias and they lodged there, ³ in the house of Michaias, and they recognised the voice of the young man the Levite, and turned in thither; and said to him, Who brought thee in hither? and what doest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? ⁴ And he said to them, Thus and thus did Michaias to me, and he hired me, and I became his priest. ⁵ And they said to him, Enquire now of God, and we shall know whether our way will prosper, on which we are going. ⁶ And the priest said to them, Go in peace; your way in which ye go, is before the Lord.

⁷ And the five men went on, and came to Laisa; and they saw the people in the midst of it dwelling securely, at ease as is the manner of the Sidonians, and there is no one ⁴perverting or shaming a matter in the land, no heir extorting treasures; and they are far from the Sidonians, and they have no intercourse with any one. ⁸ And the five men came to their brethren to Saraa and Esthaol, and said to their brethren, Why sit ye here idle? ⁹ And they said, Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good, yet ye are still: delay not to go, an to enter in to possess the land. ¹⁰ And whensoever ye shall go, ye shall come in upon a people secure, and the land is extensive, for God has given it into your hand; a place where there is no want of ⁵anything that the earth affords.

¹¹ And there departed thence of the families of Dan, from Saraa and from Esthaol, six hundred men, girded with weapons of war. ¹² And they went up, and encamped in Cariathiarim in Juda; therefore it was called in that place the camp of Dan, until this day: behold, it is behind Cariathiarim.

¹³ And they went on thence to the mount of Ephraim, and came to the house of Michaias. ¹⁴ And the five men who went to spy out the land of Laisa answered, and said to their brethren, Ye know that there is in this place an ephod, and theraphin, and a graven and a molten image; and now consider what ye shall do. ¹⁵ And they turned aside there, and went into the house of the young man, the Levite, even into the house of Michaias, and asked him ⁶how he was. ¹⁶ And the six hundred men of the sons of Dan who were girded with their weapons of

343

war ⁷stood by the door of the gate. ¹⁷ And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and entered into the house of Michaias, and the priest stood. ¹⁸ And they took the graven image, and the ephod, and the theraphin, and the molten image; and the priest said to them, What are ye doing? ¹⁹ And they said to him, Be silent, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be the priest of the house of one man, or to be the priest of a tribe and house for a family of Israel? ²⁰ And the heart of the priest was glad, and he took the ephod, and the theraphin, and the graven image, and the molten image, and went in the midst of the people.

²¹ So they turned and departed, and put their children and their property and their baggage before them.

²² They went some distance from the house of Michaias, and, behold, Michaias and the men in the houses near Michaias' house, cried out, and overtook the children of Dan. ²³ And the children of Dan turned their face, and said to Michaias, What is the matter with thee that thou hast cried out? ²⁴ And Michaias said, Because ye have taken my graven image which I made, and my priest, and are gone; and what have I remaining? and what is this that ye say to me, Why criest thou? ²⁵ And the children of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be heard with us, lest angry men run upon thee, and ⁸take away thy life, and the lives of thy house. ²⁶ And the children of Dan went their way; and Michaias saw that they were stronger than himself, and he returned to his house.

²⁷ And the children of Dan took what Michaias had made, and the priest that he had, and they came to Laisa, to a people quiet and secure; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. ²⁸ And there was no deliverer, because the city is far from the Sidonians, and they have no intercourse with men, and it is in the valley of the house of Raab; and they built the city, and dwelt in it. ²⁹ And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; and the name of the city was ⁹Ulamais before.

³⁰ And the children of Dan set up the graven image for themselves; and Jonathan son of Gerson son of Manasse, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan till the time of the carrying away of the ¹⁰nation. ^{31 1} And they set up for themselves the graven image which Michaias made, all the days that the house of God was in Selom; and it was so in those days that there was no king in Israel.