Judges 18

1In those days no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. 2And 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. 3When they 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 you hither? and what makest you in this ? and what hast you here? 4And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and has hired me, and I am his priest. 5And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray you, of Elohim, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 6And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Yahuah your way wherein ye go. 7Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and no magistrate in the land, that might put to shame in thing; and they far from the Zidonians, and had no business with man. 8And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What ye? 9And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it very good: and ye still? be not slothful to go, to enter to possess the land. 10When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for Elohim has given it into your hands; a place where no want of any thing that in the earth. 11And 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. 12And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: therefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, behind Kirjathjearim. 13And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 14Then 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. 15And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 16And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. 17And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, came in thither, 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 appointed with weapons of war. 18And 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? 19And they said unto him, Hold your peace, lay your hand upon your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: better for you to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that you be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? 20And 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. 21So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. 22when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 23And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth you, that you comest with such a company? 24And 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 this ye say unto me, What aileth you? 25And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household. 26And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. 27And they took which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 28And no deliverer, because it far from Zidon, and they had no business with man; and it was in the valley that by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. 29And 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 Laish at the first. 30And 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. 31And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of Elohim was in Shiloh.