Judges 17

₁There was a man from Mount Ephraim. His name was Micah. ₂He told his mother: ‘Do you remember the 1 100 pieces_of_silver that someone stole from you? I heard what you said when you cursed the thief who took it. I have that silver. I took it.’

Then his mother said: ‘The Lord will bless you, my son.’ ₃He gave the 1 100 pieces_of_silver back to his mother and she said: ‘I now give this silver to the Lord as an offering to bless my son. I give it to you to make an image with it.’

₄She took 200 of the pieces_of_silver that Micah gave her to a silversmith and asked him to make an image. She put the image in Micah's house. ₅Micah had a temple where he worshipped God. He had a shoulder-cloth and some small images, and he made one of his sons his priest.

₆At that time the land_of_Israel did not have a king and everyone did what they wanted to do.

₇There was a young man from the town of Bethlehem in the land_of_Judah. He was a Levite. He first lived in Bethlehem where he was a stranger ₈and then he went to look for another place where he could stay. He went to Mount Ephraim and he came to the house of Micah. ₉Micah asked him: ‘Where do you come from?’ The young man said: ‘I am a Levite from Bethlehem, in Judah, and I am looking for a place to stay.’ ₁₀Then Micah said to him: ‘Stay here with me. You can be my priest and teach me also to be a priest. I will give you 10 pieces_of_silver every year and I will pay for your clothes and give you food.’

₁₁The young Levite said he would, and he stayed and worked for Micah. He became like a son to Micah. ₁₂Micah made the Levite his priest and he lived in Micah's house. ₁₃Micah said: ‘Now I know that the Lord is good to me because I have a Levite who is my priest.’