17
1 A man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2 told his mother, “Those eleven hundred shekels of silver that were stolen from you and that I heard you curse—I've got the silver. I was the one who took it.”
Then his mother said, “My son, the Lord bless you!”*
3 He gave back to his mother the eleven hundred shekels of silver. His mother announced, “I'm completely dedicating this money to the Lord. I'm handing it over to my son to have an idol carved, an image made with molten silver.† So now I return it to you.”
4 After he'd returned the silver to his mother she gave two hundred shekels to a silversmith who made it into a carved idol, an image made with molten silver. They were kept in Micah's house. 5 Micah had built a shrine for the idol. He also made an ephod and some household gods, and ordained one of his sons as his priest. 6 At that time Israel didn't have a king— everyone did what they themselves thought was the right thing to do.‡
7 One young man, a Levite from the tribe of Judah§ had been living in Bethlehem in Judah, 8 left Bethlehem to look for a different place to live. As he traveled through the hill country of Ephraim, he came to Micah's house.
9 “Where are you from?” Micah asked him.
“I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” the man replied. “I'm looking for a place to live.”
10 “Come and stay here with me. You can be my ‘father’ and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, plus your clothes and food.” So the Levite went inside 11 and agreed to stay with him. The young man became like a son to him. 12 Micah ordained the Levite as his own priest and he lived in Micah's house.
13 “I'm sure the Lord will bless me now, because I have a Levite as my priest,” Micah concluded.
* 17:2 This may mean that the mother was attempting to neutralize the curse with a blessing since it affected her son, or that she was pleased that he had owned up to the theft. † 17:3 It is unclear whether this refers to two objects or one. See 18:17 which seems to imply two objects, while 18:20 and 18:31 refer to just one. ‡ 17:6 This is exactly the opposite of the usual phrase “did what was right in the Lord's sight.” Instead of a commendation, this must be seen as the “democratization of wickedness.” The same expression is used in 21:25. § 17:7 It's not clear how this man could be both from the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Judah, unless his parents were from different tribes.