| Chapter 17 |
1 | Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim named Micah.
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2 | And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver which were taken from you, about which you took an oath and said in my hearing, I have given this silver to the Lord from my hand for myself, to make a pictured image and a metal image: see, I have the silver, for I took it: so now I will give it back to you. And his mother said, May the blessing of the Lord be on my son.
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3 | And he gave back the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, and his mother said, I have made the silver holy to the Lord from me for my son, to make a pictured image and a metal image.
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4 | So he gave the silver back to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a metal-worker who made a pictured image and a metal image from them: and it was in the house of Micah.
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5 | And the man Micah had a house of gods; and he made an ephod and family gods and put one of his sons in the position of priest.
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6 | In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did as seemed right to him.
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7 | Now there was a young man living in Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah and a Levite, who was not a townsman of the place.
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8 | And he went away from the town of Beth-lehem-judah, looking for somewhere to make his living-place; and on his journey he came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah.
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9 | And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite from Beth-lehem-judah, and I am looking for a living-place.
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10 | Then Micah said to him, Make your living-place with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver a year and your clothing and food.
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11 | And the Levite said he would make his living-place with the man, and he became to him as one of his sons.
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12 | And Micah gave the position to the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
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13 | Then Micah said, Now I am certain that the Lord will do me good, seeing that the Levite has become my priest.
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