2He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, the silver you cursed about, and spoke about in my hearing - look, I have that silver. I took it." His mother said, "May you be blessed by the LORD, my son."
3He gave the eleven hundred shekels of silver back to his mother. Then his mother said, "I have set this silver apart for the LORD with my own hand, for my son, to make a carved image and a cast image. So now I will give it back to you."
4But he gave the money back to his mother. His mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith. He made from them a carved image and a cast image, and they were in the house of Micah.
5This man Micah had a house of gods. He made an ephod and household idols, and he set apart one of his sons, who became his priest.
6In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
7There was a young man from Bethlehemjudah, of the family of Judah. He was a Levite, and he was living there as a stranger.
8The man left the city of Bethlehemjudah to live wherever he could find a place. As he travelled, he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah.
9Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" He said to him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehemjudah, and I am going to live wherever I can find a place."
10Micah said to him, "Stay with me. Be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your food." So the Levite went in.
11The Levite was willing to stay with the man, and the young man was to him like one of his own sons.
12Micah set the Levite apart, and the young man became his priest, and stayed in the house of Micah.
13Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will do me good, because I have a Levite as my priest."