18:1 In those days [there was] no king in Israel: and in those
days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an
inheritance to dwell in; for to that day [all their]
inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
18:2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from
their borders, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to
explore the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go,
search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the
house of Micah, they lodged there.
18:3 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 to him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in
this [place]? and what hast thou here?
18:4 And he said to them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me,
and hath hired me, and I am his priest.
18:5 And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God,
that we may know whether our way which we go shall be
prosperous.
18:6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the LORD
[is] your way in which ye go.
18:7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the
people that [were] in it, 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.
18:8 And they came to their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and
their brethren said to them, What [say] ye?
18:9 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.
18:10 When ye go, ye shall come to 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] on the earth.
18:11 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.
18:12 And they went up, and encamped in Kirjath-jearim, in
Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan to this
day: behold, [it is] behind Kirjath-jearim.
18:13 And they passed thence to mount Ephraim, and came to the
house of Micah.
18:14 Then answered the five men that went to explore the
country of Laish, and said to 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.
18:15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the
young man the Levite, [even] to the house of Micah, and saluted
him.
18:16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of
war, who [were] of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance
of the gate.
18:17 And the five men that went to explore 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 entrance of the gate with the six hundred men
[that were] appointed with weapons of war.
18:18 And these went into Micah's house, and brought the carved
image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then
said the priest to them, What do ye?
18:19 And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy 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 to the house of one man,
or that thou shouldst be a priest to a tribe and a family in
Israel?
18:20 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.
18:21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, and
the cattle, and the furniture before them.
18:22 [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
collected, and overtook the children of Dan.
18:23 And they cried to the children of Dan. And they turned
their faces, and said to Micah, What aileth thee, that thou
comest with such a company?
18:24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and
the priest, and ye have gone away: and what have I more? and
what [is] this [that] ye say to me, What aileth thee?
18:25 And the children of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be
heard among us, lest angry fellows rush upon thee, and thou
lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.
18:26 And the children of Dan departed: and when Micah saw that
they [were] too strong for him, he turned and went back to his
house.
18:27 And they took [the things] which Micah had made, and the
priest which he had, and came to Laish, to a people [that were]
at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the
sword, and burnt the city with fire.
18:28 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 in it.
18:29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name
of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: but the name of
the city [was] Laish at the first.
18:30 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.
18:31 And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which
he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
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