1 In the hill country of Ephraim lived a man named Micah.
2 He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver taken from you, over which you pronounced a curse, saying it in my hearing too, here, I have the silver; I was the one who took it." His mother said, "May my son be blessed by the LORD!"
3 He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I truly consecrate the silver to the LORD from my own hand on behalf of my son, to make a carved image and a cast image. So now I give it back to you."
4 He gave the silver back to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and handed them to the silversmith, who made from it a carved image and a cast image, and it stood in Micah's house.
5 This man Micah had a house of gods. He made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, and he became his priest.
6 At that time Israel had no king; each man did what seemed right in his own eyes.
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem of Judah, from the clan of Judah; he was a Levite and was staying there as a sojourner.
8 The man set out from the town, from Bethlehem of Judah, to sojourn wherever he might find a place. Traveling along, he reached the hill country of Ephraim and Micah's house.
9 Micah asked him, "Where have you come from?" He told him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am on my way to sojourn wherever I may find a place."
10 Micah told him, "Live with me and be a father and a priest for me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your keep." So the Levite went in.
11 The Levite was content to live with the man, and the young man was to him like one of his own sons.
12 Micah consecrated the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah's house.
13 Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have the Levite as priest."