1 There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim.
2 He said to his mother, “When someone stole those 1,100 pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the thief. 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 stop 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 200 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; all the people did just as they pleased.
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 somewhere else to live. While he was travelling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.
9 Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?”He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for somewhere to live.”
10 Micah said, “Stay with me. Be my adviser and priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, some clothes, and your food.”
11 The young Levite agreed to stay with Micah and became like a son to him.
12 Micah appointed him as his priest, and he lived in Micah's home.
13 Micah said, “Now that I have a Levite as my priest, I know that the Lord will make things go well for me.”