Bible, King James Version
Judges
Judg.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 Kirjath-jearim, in
Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this
day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.
[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 Beth-rehob. 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.
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