In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever he wanted.

There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.

This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.

He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about—here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you.”

Then his mother said, “My son, you are blessed by the Lord!”

He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver.”

There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah.

Micah replied, “Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in

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

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image overlaid with silver, and it was in Micah’s house.

The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.

Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house.

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

“Where do you come from?” Micah asked him.

He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to settle wherever I can find a place.”