Judges:18

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* In those days there was no king in Israel : and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in ; for to that day , their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel . * The children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number , men of valor , from Zorah , and from Eshtaol , to spy out the land , and to search it ; and they said to them , "Go , explore the land !" They came to the hill country of Ephraim , to the house of Micah , and lodged there . * When they were by the house of Micah , they knew the voice of the young man the Levite ; and they turned aside there , and said to him , "Who brought you here ? What do you do in this place ? What do you have here ?" * He said to them , "Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me , and he has hired me , and I am become his priest ." * They said to him , "Please ask counsel of God , that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous ." * The priest said to them , "Go in peace . Your way in which you go is before Yahweh ." * Then the five men departed , and came to Laish , and saw the people who were therein , how they lived in security , in the way of the Sidonians , quiet and secure ; for there was none in the land , possessing authority , that might put them to shame in anything , and they were far from the Sidonians , and had no dealings with any man . * They came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol : and their brothers said to them , "What do you say ?" * They said , "Arise , and let us go up against them ; for we have seen the land , and behold , it is very good . Do you stand still ? Don 't be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land . * When you go , you shall come to a secure people , and the land is large ; for God has given it into your hand , a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth ." * There set forth from there of the family of the Danites , out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol , six hundred men girt with weapons of war . * They went up , and encamped in Kiriath Jearim , in Judah : therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan , to this day ; behold , it is behind Kiriath Jearim . * They passed there to the hill country of Ephraim , and came to the house of Micah . * Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered , and said to their brothers , "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod , and teraphim , and an engraved image , and a molten image ? Now therefore consider what you have to do ." * They turned aside there , and came to the house of the young man the Levite , even to the house of Micah , and asked him of his welfare . * The six hundred men girt with their weapons of war , who were of the children of Dan , stood by the entrance of the gate . * The five men who went to spy out the land went up , and came in there , and took the engraved image , and the ephod , and the teraphim , and the molten image : and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girt with weapons of war . * When these went into Micah 's house , and fetched the engraved image , the ephod , and the teraphim , and the molten image , the priest said to them , "What are you doing ?" * They said to him , "Hold your peace , put your hand on your mouth , and go with us , and be to us a father and a priest . Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man , or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel ?" * The priest 's heart was glad , and he took the ephod , and the teraphim , and the engraved image , and went in the midst of the people . * So they turned and departed , and put the little ones and the livestock and the goods before them . * When they were a good way from the house of Micah , the men who were in the houses near to Micah 's house were gathered together , and overtook the children of Dan . * They cried to the children of Dan . They turned their faces , and said to Micah , "What ails you , that you come with such a company ?" * He said , "You have taken away my gods which I made , and the priest , and have gone away , and what more do I have ? How then do you say to me , 'What ails you ?'" * The children of Dan said to him , "Don 't let your voice be heard among us , lest angry fellows fall on you , and you lose your life , with the lives of your household ." * The children of Dan went their way : and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him , he turned and went back to his house . * They took that which Micah had made , and the priest whom he had , and came to Laish , to a people quiet and secure , and struck them with the edge of the sword ; and they burnt the city with fire . * There was no deliverer , because it was far from Sidon , and they had no dealings with any man ; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob . They built the city , and lived therein . * They called the name of the city Dan , after the name of Dan their father , who was born to Israel : however the name of the city was Laish at the first . * The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image : and Jonathan , the son of Gershom , the son of Moses , he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land . * So they set them up Micah 's engraved image which he made , all the time that God 's house was in Shiloh .

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