1 There was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
2 He said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you also pronounced a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. His mother said, Blessed be my son of the Lord.
3 He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I most certainly consecrate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son, to make an idol of cast metal: now therefore I will restore it to you.
4 When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made it into an idol of cast metal: and it was in the house of Micah.
5 The man Micah had for himself a shrine, and he 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: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem, from the clan of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was dwelling as a foreigner there.
8 The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem in Judah to live as a foreigner wherever he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he traveled.
9 Micah said to him, From where do you come? He said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and am going to dwell as a foreigner wherever I may find a place.
10 Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of clothing, and your food. So the Levite went in.
11 The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.
12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
13 Then Micah said, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, because I have a Levite as my priest.