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Judges
Chapter 18
1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the
tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto
that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the
tribes of Israel.
2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their
coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the
land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land:
who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged
there.
3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the
young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him,
Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what
hast thou here?
4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and
hath hired me, and I am his priest.
5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that
we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is
your way wherein ye go.
7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people
that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the
Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land,
that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the
Zidonians, and had no business with any man.
8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their
brethren said unto them, What say ye?
9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have
seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not
slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.
10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large
land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no
want of any thing that is in the earth.
11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of
Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of
war.
12 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah:
wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it
is behind Kirjathjearim.
13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the
house of Micah.
14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of
Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these
houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image?
now therefore consider what ye have to do.
15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young
man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war,
which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came
in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim,
and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate
with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image,
the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest
unto them, What do ye?
19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy
mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better
for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a
priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the
teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the
cattle and the carriage before them.
22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men
that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together,
and overtook the children of Dan.
23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their
faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with
such a company?
24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the
priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this
that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be
heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy
life, with the lives of thy household.
26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that
they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
27 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest
which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and
secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the
city with fire.
28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and
they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth
by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.
29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan
their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city
was Laish at the first.
30 And the children of Dan set up the graven 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 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all
the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.