Judges 18

1In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days, too, the tribe of Dan was looking for territory of its own to settle in, because until then no inheritance had fallen to it among the tribes of Israel.

2So the Danites sent five capable men from their clan, chosen from their whole number, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out and explore the land. They told them, “Go and explore the land.” The men came into the hill country of Ephraim as far as Micah’s house, and they stayed the night there. 3Near Micah’s house they recognized the young Levite’s voice, so they turned aside there. “Who brought you here?” they asked him. “What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 4He told them, “This is what Micah has done for me: he hired me, and I have become his priest.” 5They said to him, “Please inquire of God, so that we may know whether this journey we are on will succeed.” 6The priest answered them, “Go in peace. The journey you are making is under the eye of the LORD.”

7So the five men went on and came to Laish. They saw that the people there were living in security, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. No one in the land held power over them or did them harm in any way. They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8When they came back to their kinsmen at Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, “What news do you bring?” 9They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. And here you sit doing nothing! Do not be slow to go in and take possession of the land. 10When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land. God has given it into your hands, a place that lacks nothing on earth.” 11So 600 men of the clan of the Danites, armed with weapons of war, set out from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol. 12They went up and made camp at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim has been called Mahaneh-dan to this day. 13From there they went on into the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house. 14Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Did you know that in these houses there is an ephod, household gods, a carved image and a cast idol? Now think about what you should do.” 15So they turned aside there, came to the young Levite’s house at Micah’s place, and greeted him. 16Meanwhile the 600 armed men of Dan stood at the entrance of the gate. 17The five men who had spied out the land went up, entered the house, and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods and the cast idol, while the priest was standing at the gate’s entrance with the 600 armed men. 18When these men went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19They answered him, “Be quiet! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Which is better: to be priest for one man’s household, or for a tribe and clan in Israel?” 20The priest was pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the carved image, and went along among the people. 21They turned and set off, putting their children, their livestock and their goods in front of them. 22When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived in the houses near Micah’s were called out, and they caught up with the Danites. 23As they shouted after the Danites, the Danites turned around. “What is the matter with you,” they said to Micah, “that you have called out these men?” 24He answered, “You have taken the gods I made, and the priest, and gone off. What do I have left? How can you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” 25The Danites told him, “Do not raise your voice at us, or some hot-tempered men may attack you, and you will lose your life and the lives of your household.” 26So the Danites went on their way. Micah saw that they were too strong for him, so he turned around and went back home. 27So they took what Micah had made, along with the priest who had been his, and came to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. 28There was no one to rescue them, because the city was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. It lay in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. 29They named the city Dan, after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel; but the city used to be called Laish. 30The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, and his sons served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time the land went into exile. 31They kept Micah’s carved image, which he had made, set up for themselves the whole time the house of God was at Shiloh.