Judges, Chapter 18

1. In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in; for until that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.    2. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their territory, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.    3. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in there, and said to him, Who brought you here? and what do you do in this place? and what have you here?    4. And he said to them, Thus and thus deals Micah with me, and has hired me, and I am his priest.    5. And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray you, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.    6. And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way in which you go.    7. Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt without fear, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in anything; and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no business with any man.    8. And they came to their kindred to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their kindred said to them, What do you say?    9. And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and do you stay still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.    10. When you go, you shall come to a people secure, and to a large land: for God has given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.    11. And there went from there of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men provided with weapons of war.    12. And they went up, and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.    13. And they passed from there to mount Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.    14. Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said to their brethren, Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a sculptured image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what you have to do.    15. And they turned towards there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and greeted him.    16. And the six hundred men provided with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.    17. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the sculptured image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.    18. And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest to them, What are you doing?    19. And they said to him, Hold your peace, lay your hand upon your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one man, or that you be a priest for a tribe and a family in Israel?    20. And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the sculptured image, and went in the midst of the people.    21. So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the baggage before them.    22. And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.    23. And they cried out to the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What ails you, that you come with such a company?    24. And he said, You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and you are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that you say to me, What ails you?    25. And the children of Dan said to him, Let not your voice be heard among us, so that angry fellows do not run upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household.    26. And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.    27. And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came to Laish, to a people that were quiet and secure: and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.    28. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.    29. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: however the name of the city was Laish at the first.    30. And the children of Dan set up the sculptured image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.    31. And they set up for themselves Micah's sculptured image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.