Judges 17

1There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Mikayhu.

2And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and also spoke in my hearing—look, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.”

3So he returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I had solemnly dedicated the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a cast image; so now I return it to you.”

4So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a cast image, and it was in the house of Micah.

5The man Micah had a house of God, and he made an ephod and household idols, and he ordained one of his sons, and he became his priest.

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

7There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the clan of Judah; and he was a Levite, and he was sojourning there.

8And the man went from the city, from Bethlehem of Judah, to sojourn wherever he might find a place. And he came to the hill country of Ephraim, as far as the house of Micah, to continue his journey.

9Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn wherever I may find a place.”

10Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your living.” So the Levite went in.

11So the Levite agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons to him.

12So Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in Micah’s house.

13Then Micah said, “Now I know that Yahweh will do good to me, because I have a Levite as priest.”