1
There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim.
2
He told his mother, "When someone stole those eleven hundred pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the robber. I heard you do it. Look, I have the money. I am the one who took it." His mother said, "May the Lord bless you, my son!"
3
He gave the money back to his mother, and she said, "To keep the curse from falling on my son, I myself am solemnly dedicating the silver to the Lord. It will be used to make a wooden idol covered with silver. So now I will give the pieces of silver back to you."
4
Then he gave them back to his mother. She took two hundred of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah's house.
5
This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest.
6
There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted.
1
7
At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah.
8
He left Bethlehem to find another place to live. While he was traveling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.