Judges 17

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

In the hill country of Ephraim, a man named Micah confessed to taking eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother, who then dedicated the money to the Lord to create a graven image and a molten idol for Micah's house. Micah established a shrine, made an ephod and household idols, and appointed one of his sons as his priest, during a time when Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Later, a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah traveled through the region and arrived at Micah's house while searching for a place to settle. Micah hired the Levite, offering him silver, clothing, and food to serve as his personal priest. Micah then ordained the young man, who lived in his home, leading Micah to believe the Lord would prosper him because he had a Levite for a priest.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim ²said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.” Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!” ³And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.” ⁴So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah. ⁵Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. ⁷And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah. ⁸This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim. ⁹“Where are you from?” Micah asked him. “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.” ¹⁰“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” So the Levite went in ¹¹and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah. ¹²Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.