Micah, an Ephraimite, makes an idol and sets up a shrine, hiring a Levite as priest. The chapter ends: In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
1 And there was a man of mount Ephraim , whose name was Micah .
2 And he said unto his mother , The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst , and spakest of also in mine ears , behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said , Blessed be thou of the LORD , my son .
3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother , his mother said , I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son , to make a graven image and a molten image : now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother ; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver , and gave them to the founder , who made thereof a graven image and a molten image : and they were in the house of Micah .
5 And the man Micah had an house of gods , and made an ephod , and teraphim , and consecrated one of his sons , who became his priest .
6 In those days there was no king in Israel , but every man did that which was right in his own eyes .
7 And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah , who was a Levite , and he sojourned there.
8 And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah , as he journeyed .
9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah , and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.
10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest , and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year , and a suit of apparel , and thy victuals . So the Levite went in .
11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man ; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons .
12 And Micah consecrated the Levite ; and the young man became his priest , and was in the house of Micah .
13 Then said Micah , Now know I that the LORD will do me good , seeing I have a Levite to my priest .