King James VersionJudges18

Judges

1 In those days there was no king in Is­rael: and in those days the tribe of the Dan­ites sought them an in­her­i­tance to dwell in; for unto that day all their in­her­i­tance had not fall­en unto them among the tribes of Is­rael. 2 And the chil­dren of Dan sent of their fam­i­ly five men from their coasts, men of val­our, from Zo­rah, and from Es­h­taol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto 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 thith­er, and said unto him, Who brought thee hith­er? and what mak­est thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Mic­ah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 5 And they said unto him, Ask coun­sel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be pros­per­ous. 6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: be­fore the LORD is your way where­in ye go. 7 Then the five men de­part­ed, and came to Laish, and saw the peo­ple that were there­in, how they dwelt care­less, af­ter the man­ner of the Zi­do­nians, qui­et and se­cure; and there was no mag­is­trate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zi­do­nians, and had no busi­ness with any man. 8 And they came unto their brethren to Zo­rah and Es­h­taol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 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 are ye still? be not sloth­ful to go, and to en­ter to pos­sess the land. 10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a peo­ple se­cure, and to a large land: for God hath giv­en it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 11 And there went from thence of the fam­i­ly of the Dan­ites, out of Zo­rah and out of Es­h­taol, six hun­dred men ap­point­ed with weapons of war. 12 And they went up, and pitched in Kir­jath­jearim, in Ju­dah: where­fore they called that place Ma­hane­hdan unto this day: be­hold, it is be­hind Kir­jath­jearim. 13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Mic­ah. 14 Then an­swered the five men that went to spy out the coun­try of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these hous­es an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven im­age, and a molten im­age? now there­fore con­sid­er what ye have to do. 15 And they turned thith­er­ward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Mic­ah, and salut­ed him. 16 And the six hun­dred men ap­point­ed 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 thith­er, and took the graven 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 unto them, What do ye? 19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a fa­ther and a priest: is it bet­ter for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto 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 graven 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 car­riage 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 unto the chil­dren of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Mic­ah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a com­pa­ny? 24 And he said, Ye have tak­en away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? 25 And the chil­dren of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest an­gry fel­lows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy 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 unto his house. 27 And they took the things which Mic­ah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a peo­ple that were at qui­et and se­cure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was no de­liv­er­er, be­cause it was far from Zi­don, and they had no busi­ness with any man; and it was in the val­ley that lieth by Bethre­hob. 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 unto Is­rael: how­beit the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the chil­dren of Dan set up the graven 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 them up Micah's graven im­age, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.