Micah's Priest
1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.
2
He said to his mother, "The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about-here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you." Then his mother said, "My son, you are blessed by the Lord!"
3
He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I personally consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son's benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver."
4
So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image overlaid with silver, and it was in Micah's house.
5
This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.
6
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted.
7
There was a young man, a Levite, from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah.
8
The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah's home in the hill country of Ephraim.
9
"Where do you come from?" Micah asked him. He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to settle wherever I can find a place.
10
Micah replied, "Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions." So the Levite went in
11
and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.