1. There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.
2. He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, on which you put a curse, even speaking the curse in my ears—here is the silver with me. I took it.”Then his mother said, “May the Lord bless my son!”
3. Then he returned the eleven hundred silver coins to his mother. His mother said, “I certainly consecrated the silver to the Lord, for my son to make a carved idol and a metal idol, so now I return it to you.”
4. When he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith to make a carved idol and a metal idol. And they were put in the house of Micah.
5. This man Micah owned a shrine. He made an ephod and household idols, and he hired one of his sons to be a priest for him.
6. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his eyes.
7. There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite from Judah, and he stayed as a resident foreigner there.
8. The man went from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. He came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to do his work.
9. Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”He said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I can find a place.”
10. Micah said to him, “Live with me, and be a father and a priest for me. I will give you ten silver coins a year, a set of clothes, and food.” So the Levite went in.
11. The Levite decided to live with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.
12. Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah.
13. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will do good for me, for I have a Levite to be my priest.”