1 In those days there was no king in Israel.
In those days the tribe of the Danites
sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to
that day, their inheritance had not fallen to
them amongst the tribes of Israel.
2 The children of Dan sent five men of
their family from their whole number,
men of valour, from Zorah and from Eshtaol,
to spy out the land and to search it.
They said to them, “Go, explore the land!”
They came to the hill country of
Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and
lodged there.
3 When they were by the house of Micah,
they knew the voice of the young man the
Levite; so they went over there and said to
him, “Who brought you here? What do you
do in this place? What do you have here?”
4 He said to them, “Thus and thus has
Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me,
and I have become his priest.”
5 They said to him, “Please ask counsel of
God, that we may know whether our way
which we go shall be prosperous.”
6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace.
Your way in which you go is before the
LORD.”
7 Then the five men departed and came
to Laish and saw the people who were
there, how they lived in safety, in the way
of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for
there was no one in the land possessing
authority, that might put them to shame in
anything, and they were far from the Sidonians,
and had no dealings with anyone
else.
8 They came to their brothers at Zorah
and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked
them, “What do you say?”
9 They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against
them; for we have seen the land, and behold,
it is very good. Do you stand still?
Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to
possess the land.
10 When you go, you will come to an
unsuspecting people, and the land is large;
for God has given it into your hand, a place
where there is no lack of anything that is in
the earth.”
11 The family of the Danites set out from
Zorah and Eshtaol with six hundred men
armed with weapons of war.
12 They went up and encamped in
Kiriath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they
call that place Mahaneh Dan to this day.
Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim.
13 They passed from there to the hill
country of Ephraim, and came to the house
of Micah.
14 Then the five men who went to spy out
the country of Laish answered and said to
their brothers, “Do you know that there is
in these houses an ephod, and teraphim,†
and a carved image, and a molten image?
Now therefore consider what you have to
do.” 15 They went over there and came to the
house of the young Levite man, even to the
house of Micah, and asked him how he was
doing.
16 The six hundred men armed with their
weapons of war, who were of the children
of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.
17 The five men who went to spy out
the land went up, and came in there, and
took the engraved image, the ephod, the
teraphim, and the molten image; and the
priest stood by the entrance of the gate
with the six hundred men armed with
weapons of war.
18 When these went into Micah’s house,
and took the engraved image, the ephod,
the teraphim, and the molten image, the
priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
19 They said to him, “Hold your peace,
put your hand on your mouth, and go with
us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it
better for you to be priest to the house of
one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a
family in Israel?”
20 The priest’s heart was glad, and he
took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved
image, and went with the people.
21 So they turned and departed, and put
the little ones, the livestock, and the goods
before them.
22 When they were a good way from
the house of Micah, the men who were in
the houses near Micah’s house gathered
together and overtook the children of Dan.
23 As they called to the children of Dan,
they turned their faces, and said to Micah,
“What ails you, that you come with such a
company?”
24 He said, “You have taken away my
gods which I made, and the priest, and
have gone away! What more do I have?
How can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’ ”
25 The children of Dan said to him, “Don’t
let your voice be heard amongst us, lest
angry fellows fall on you, and you lose
your life, with the lives of your household.”
26 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 They took that which Micah had made,
and the priest whom he had, and came
to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting,
and struck them with the edge of the
sword; then they burnt the city with fire.
28 There was no deliverer, because it was
far from Sidon, and they had no dealings
with anyone else; and it was in the valley
that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city
and lived in it.
29 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 used to be Laish.
30 The children of Dan set up for themselves
the engraved image; and Jonathan,
the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and
his sons were priests to the tribe of the
Danites until the day of the captivity of the
land.
31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s
engraved image which he made, and it
remained all the time that God’s house was
in Shiloh.
