Meanwhile, Gideon and the 300 soldiers with him came to the Jordan, exhausted but continuing their pursuit.

This man Micah had his own shrine, had crafted his own ephod and some household idols, and had installed one of his sons as a priest.

So Micah replied, "Come live with me! You can be a spiritual father to me, as well as a priest. I'll pay you ten silver coins a year, plus a priestly uniform and an income." So the descendant of Levi moved in.

Micah set up the descendant of Levi in ministry, and the young man became his priest while he lived in Micah's house.

As for Micah, he kept saying, "Now I know the LORD will make me rich, because I have a descendant of Levi for a priest!"

He answered, "Micah did such and such for me, and has hired me, so I've become his priest."

The priest responded to them, "Travel in peace. The mission that you're to accomplish is from the LORD."

the five men who had gone to scout out the land arrived, entered Micah's home and confiscated the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast image. Meanwhile, the priest stood outside by the entrance to the gate with the 600 men armed with military weapons.

After they went into Micah's home and took possession of the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast image, the priest challenged them. "What are you doing?" he asked them.

They told him, "Shut up and keep quiet. Come with us and be our spiritual father and priest. It's better for you, isn't it, to be a priest to an entire tribe and family in Israel than to be priest to the home of one man?"

The priest was happy to oblige, so he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image and went along with the army.

Micah replied, "You took my gods that I crafted, along with the priest, and left! What do I have left? So what's with this "What's wrong with you?'"

But the descendants of Dan took what Micah had made, along with the priest who had worked for him, and went to Laish, to a quiet and carefree people, and killed them with swords. Then they set fire to the city.