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BibleCompass

/Chapter 18

18 / 21

Judges

ESV

Chapter 18

¹In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. ²So the people of Dan sent five able men from their clan, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite. And they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁴And he said to them, “This is what Micah has done for me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” ⁵And they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will be successful.” ⁶And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you are setting out is before the LORD.” ⁷Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing on earth and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸And when they came to their brothers, at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” ⁹They said, “Arise, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. ¹⁰When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people in a spacious land, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.” ¹¹And from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, 600 men of the clan of the Danites, armed with weapons of war, set out. ¹²And they went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim. ¹³From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah. ¹⁴Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.” ¹⁵And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked him about his welfare. ¹⁶While the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate, ¹⁷the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹And they said to him, “Keep quiet; put your hand over your mouth and come 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 to be a priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” ²⁰And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod, the household gods, and the carved image, and went along with the people. ²¹So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the heavy goods in front of them. ²²When they had gone a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. ²³And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?” ²⁴And he said, “You have taken my gods that I made, and the priest, and gone away, and what else do I have? And what is this that you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” ²⁵And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” ²⁶Then the people of Dan went their way. And Micah saw that they were too strong for him, and he turned and went back to his home. ²⁷But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. ²⁸And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. ²⁹And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city had been Laish at the first. ³⁰And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.