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 ^ato make a carved image and a cast metal image; so now I will return ¹them 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 ¹them into a carved image and a cast metal image, and ²they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a ^1ashrine and he made an ^bephod and ^2chousehold idols, and ³consecrated one of his sons, ^dso that he might become his priest. 6 In those days ^athere was no king in Israel; ^beveryone did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man from ^aBethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was ¹staying there. 8 Then the man left the city, Bethlehem in Judah, to ¹stay wherever he would find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the ^ahill 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 ¹stay wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Stay with me and be ^aa 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 ¹consecrated the Levite, and the young man ^abecame his priest and ²lived 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.”