[1] There was a man named Micah. He lived in the mountains of Ephraim. [2] He said to his mother, "You remember the 28 pounds of silver that were taken from you. I heard you say a curse about it. I have the silver with me. I took it." His mother said, "The Lord bless you, my son!" [3] Micah gave the 28 pounds of silver to his mother. Then she said, "I will give this silver to the Lord. I will have my son make a carved idol and an idol of melted silver. So I will give the silver back to you." [4] So he gave the silver back to his mother. She took about 5 pounds of the silver and gave it to a silversmith. He used it to make a carved idol and an idol of melted silver. The idols were put in Micah's house. [5] Micah had a temple for worshiping idols. He made a vest for a priest and some household idols. Then Micah chose one of his sons to be his priest. [6] At that time the Israelites did not have a king. So everyone did what he thought was right. [7] There was a young man who was a Levite. He was from the city of Bethlehem in the land of Judah. He had been living with the people of Judah. [8] He left Bethlehem to look for another place to live. On his way he came to Micah's house. It was in the mountains of Ephraim. [9] Micah asked him, "Where have you come from?" He answered, "I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I'm looking for a place to live." [10] Then Micah said to him, "Live with me. Be my father and my priest. I will give you 4 ounces of silver each year. I will also give you clothes and food." So the Levite went in. [11] The young Levite agreed to live with Micah. He became like one of Micah's own sons. [12] Micah made him a priest. And he lived in Micah's house. [13] Then Micah said, "Now I know the Lord will be good to me. I know this because I have a Levite as my priest!"
