Judges 18

1In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory of its own to settle in, because until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them.

2So the Danites sent five able men from their clan, out of their whole number, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go and explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and spent the night there.

3While they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. So they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?”

4He said to them, “This is what Micah has done for me: he hired me, and I have become his priest.”

5Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God, so that we may know whether the journey we are on will succeed.”

6The priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey you are on is under Yahweh’s eye.”

7So the five men went on and came to Laish. They saw that the people there were living in security, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. No one in the land was humiliating them in any way or holding power over them. They were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.

8When they came back to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol, their relatives asked them, “What did you find?”

9They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Are you going to sit still? Do not hesitate to go and enter the land and take possession of it.

10When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land. God has given it into your hands, a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”

11So six hundred men of the clan of the Danites, armed with weapons of war, set out from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol.

12They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

13From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

14Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their relatives, “Do you know that in these houses there is an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a cast idol? Now think about what you should do.”

15So they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at Micah’s house, and greeted him.

16The six hundred Danite men, armed with their weapons of war, stood at the entrance of the gate.

17The five men who had gone to spy out the land went up, went in, and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

18When these men went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

19They said to him, “Be quiet! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to one man’s household, or to be priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?”

20The priest was pleased. He took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image and went along with the people.

21So they turned and set out, putting the little children, the livestock, and their goods in front of them.

22When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they caught up with the Danites.

23They shouted after the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you have called out these men?”

24He answered, “You have taken my gods that I made, and my priest, and gone away. What do I have left? How can you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”

25The Danites said to him, “Do not let us hear another word from you, or some angry men will attack you, and you will lose your life and the lives of your household.”

26Then the Danites went on their way. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back home.

27So they took what Micah had made, along with the priest he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city.

28There was no one to rescue them, because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled in it.

29They named the city Dan, after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel. But the city used to be called Laish.

30The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day the land went into exile.

31They set up for themselves the carved image that Micah had made, and it remained there all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh.