1 There was a man named Micah. He lived in the mountains of Ephraim.
2 He said to his mother, “You remember the 28 pounds of silver that were taken from you. I heard you say a curse about it. I have the silver with me. I took it.”His mother said, “The Lord bless you, my son!”
3 Micah gave the 28 pounds of silver to his mother. Then she said, “I will give this silver to the Lord. I will have my son make a carved idol and an idol of melted silver. So I will give the silver back to you.”
4 So he gave the silver back to his mother. She took about 5 pounds of the silver and gave it to a silversmith. He used it to make a carved idol and an idol of melted silver. The idols were put in Micah’s house.
5 Micah had a temple for worshiping idols. He made a vest for a priest and some household idols. Then Micah chose one of his sons to be his priest.
6 At that time the Israelites did not have a king. So everyone did what he thought was right.
7 There was a young man who was a Levite. He was from the city of Bethlehem in the land of Judah. He had been living with the people of Judah.
8 He left Bethlehem to look for another place to live. On his way he came to Micah’s house. It was in the mountains of Ephraim.
9 Micah asked him, “Where have you come from?”He answered, “I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I’m looking for a place to live.”
10 Then Micah said to him, “Live with me. Be my father and my priest. I will give you 4 ounces of silver each year. I will also give you clothes and food.” So the Levite went in.
11 The young Levite agreed to live with Micah. He became like one of Micah’s own sons.
12 Micah made him a priest. And he lived in Micah’s house.
13 Then Micah said, “Now I know the Lord will be good to me. I know this because I have a Levite as my priest!”