 1 In those days no king was in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites looked for an inheritance for them to live in. For to that day it had not fallen to them by inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2 The children of Dan sent five men from their family, from their borders, men of war, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. They said to them, Go, search the land. When they came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, they stayed there. 3 When they were at the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite. They turned and said to him, Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What have you here? 4 He said to them, This is how Micah dealt with me and hired me. I am his priest. 5 They said to him, Ask counsel of God so that we may know whether the way that we go will be prosperous. 6 The priest said to them, Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before the Lord. 7 The five men departed and came to Laish, and saw the people in it, how they lived carelessly, as the Sidonians do, quiet and secure. There was no judge in the land who might put them to shame in a thing. They were far from the Sidonians, and had no business with any man. 8 They came to their brothers, to Zorah and Eshtaol. Their brothers said to them, What do you say? 9 They said, Arise, so that we may go up against them. For we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good. And will you sit quietly? Do not be too lazy to go. Enter to possess the land. 10 When you go, you will come to a people feeling safe, and to a large land. For God has given it to you, a place where there is no lack of anything in the earth. 11 600 men of the family of the Danites moved from there, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, dressed+ with weapons of war. 12 They pitched in Kirjathjearim in Judah and called that place Mahanehdan as it is to this day. It is behind Kirjathjearim. 13 They passed from there to Mount Ephraim and came to the house of Micah. 14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish said to their brothers, Did you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and household gods, and an engraved image and a molten image? Now consider what you have to do. 15 They turned in that way, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, to the house of Micah, and greeted him. 16 The 600 men of the children of Dan, dressed+ with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 The five men who went to spy out the land came in there, and took the engraved image and the ephod and the household gods, and the molten image. The priest stood the entrance of the gate with the 600 men who were dressed with weapons of war. 18 These went into Micah's house and brought out the carved image, the ephod, and the household gods, and the molten image. The priest said to them, What are you doing? 19 They said to him, Be quiet, lay your hand on your mouth and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? 20 The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the household gods, and the carved image, and went in the midst of the people. 21 They turned and departed, and put the little children and the cattle and the valuables before them. 22 They had gone far away from the house of Micah, and the men in the houses near Micah's house had been called together and had overtaken the children of Dan. 23 They cried out to the children of Dan. They turned and said to Micah, What ails you that you have been called together? 24 He said, You have taken away my gods that I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. And what more do I have? And what is this you say to me, What ails you? 25 The children of Dan said to him, Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon you and you lose your life with the lives of your household. 26 The children of Dan went their way. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. 27 They took the things that Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and feeling safe. They struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no business with any man. And it was in the valley that lies by Bethrehob. They built a city and lived in it. 29 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 The children of Dan set up the engraved image. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 They set up Micah's engraved image for themselves, the image that he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
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