Judg 17 | EE | STEP | A man called Micah came from the hill country of Ephraim.

Judges 17

Micah’s idols

1 A man called Micah came from the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He told his mother that he had taken 1100 shekels of silver (about 28 pounds or 13 kilos) from her. She had asked the gods to punish the person who had done this. His mother then asked the LORD to make her son happy.

3 Micah returned the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother. She said, ‘You must make this silver into an image and an idol. I am giving it back to you’.

4 Micah’s mother took 200 shekels of the silver. She gave them to a man who made things with silver. He made an image and an idol. They were in Micah’s house.

5 Now Micah had a special place to worship his gods. He made an ephod and more idols for it. He chose one of his sons to be a priest. 6 There was no king in Israel in those days. Every man did what he thought was right.

7 A young Levite was living in Bethlehem of Judah. 8 He left that town. He was looking for another place to stay. As he travelled, he came to Micah’s house in the hills of Ephraim.

9 Micah asked him, ‘Where are you from?’ ‘I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah’, he said. ‘And I am looking for a place to stay’.

10 Micah said, ‘Live with me and be my father and my priest. I will give you 10 shekels (110 grams or 4 ounces) of silver a year. And I will give you your food and clothes’. 11 So the Levite agreed to live with Micah. He became like a son to Micah. 12 Micah made the young man a priest at his place of worship. The young man became his priest and lived in his house. 13 Then Micah said, ‘Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because I have made this Levite my priest’.