The Judges & Ruth

This man Mikhah owned a house of God; so he made a ritual vest and household gods and consecrated one of his sons, who became his cohen.

At that time there was no king in Isra'el; a man simply did whatever he thought was right.

There was a young man from Beit-Lechem in Y'hudah, from the family of Y'hudah, who was a Levi. He had been staying

in Beit-Lechem, but he left there to find another place to live and came to the hills of Efrayim, where eventually he made his way to the house of Mikhah.

Mikhah asked him, "Where are you coming from?" He answered, "I am a Levi from Beit-Lechem in Y'hudah, and I'm looking for a place to live."

Mikhah replied, "Stay with me, and be a father and cohen for me; I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, in addition to your clothing and food." So the Levi went in

and agreed to stay with the man; the young man became like one of his sons.

After Mikhah consecrated the Levi, the young man became his cohen and stayed there in Mikhah's house.

Mikhah said, "Now I know that ADONAI will treat me well, because I have a Levi for a cohen.

At that time there was no king in Isra'el, and it was also at that time that the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to claim ownership of and settle in, since they had not yet been given any land of their own among the tribes of Isra'el.

The people of Dan sent five leading men from Tzor'ah and Eshta'ol, representing their whole tribe, to spy out and explore the land. They instructed them, "Go, and explore the land." They came to the hills of Efrayim, to the house of Mikhah, and stayed there.

While they were at Mikhah's house they recognized the accent of the young man, the Levi, so they approached him and said, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is there for you here?"

He answered, "Here's the arrangement Mikhah has made with me: he pays me a wage, and I serve as his cohen."

They said to him, "Please ask God whether our journey will be successful."

The cohen replied, "Don't worry. ADONAI is with you on this journey."

The five men left, came to Layish and saw the people there living securely according to the customs of the Tzidonim, quietly and securely; since no one in the land was exercising authority that might shame them in any respect; moreover, they were far away from the Tzidonim and had no dealings with other peoples.

When they returned to their kinsmen in Tzor'ah and Eshta'ol, they asked them what they had to report.

They said, "Let's go up and attack them. We've seen the land, and it's excellent. Don't delay; start moving! Go in, and take the land!

When you go, you will come to a people who feel safe. There's plenty of land, the place lacks nothing, it has everything there is on earth, and God has given it to you."

So from the tribe of Dan 600 men equipped for war set out from there, from Tzor'ah and Eshta'ol.

They went up and camped at Kiryat-Ye'arim, in Y'hudah, which is why that place is called Machaneh-Dan [the camp of Dan] to this day (actually, it's behind Kiryat-Ye'arim).

From there they passed on into the hills of Efrayim and came to Mikhah's house.

The men who had gone to spy out the land of Layish then said to their kinsmen, "Are you aware that in these buildings there is a ritual vest, household gods and a carved image overlaid with silver? Decide what you ought to do."

They turned off the road and went to the house of the young Levi, that is, to Mikhah's house, and asked how he was doing.

The 600 soldiers from Dan stayed at the gate,