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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Judges 18 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/18.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/18-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Judges 18</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/17.htm" title="Judges 17">◄</a> Judges 18 <a href="../judges/19.htm" title="Judges 19">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/judges/18.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Danites Take the Levite and the Idol</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>And he said to them, “This is how Micah dealt with me: he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>And they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Compare 18:10; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain">a</a></sup></span> nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>And when they came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>As soon as you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Mahaneh-dan means camp of Dan">b</a></sup></span> to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>And they passed on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him about his welfare. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Now the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And when these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>And they said to him, “Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the goods in front of them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses,<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or Manasseh">c</a></sup></span> and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">7</span> Compare 18:10; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain<br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">12</span> <i class="catch-word">Mahaneh-dan</i> means <i>camp of Dan</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">30</span> Or <i>Manasseh</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. 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