Micah’s Idolatry

17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. ² And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and also spoke it in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” ³ He then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly consecrate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son ^(A)to make a carved image and a cast metal image; so now I will return ^[a]them to you.” ⁴ So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made ^[b]them into a carved image and a cast metal image, and ^[c]they were in the house of Micah. ⁵ And the man Micah had a ^[d](B)shrine and he made an ^(C)ephod and ^[e](D)household idols, and ^[f]consecrated one of his sons, ^(E)so that he might become his priest. ⁶ In those days ^(F)there was no king in Israel; ^(G)everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

⁷ Now there was a young man from ^(H)Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was ^[g]staying there. ⁸ Then the man left the city, Bethlehem in Judah, to ^[h]stay wherever he would find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the ^(I)hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah. ⁹ Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to ^[i]stay wherever I may find a place.” ¹⁰ Micah then said to him, “Stay with me and be ^(J)a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a supply of clothing, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹ The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. ¹² So Micah ^[j]consecrated the Levite, and the young man ^(K)became his priest and ^[k]lived in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as a priest.”