Judges 17

World English Bible 83 include this book

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 uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May the LORD bless my son!”

3 He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. 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 a silversmith, who made a carved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah.

5 The man Micah had a house of gods, 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. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.

8 The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where 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, “Where did you come from?” He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.”

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 per year, 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 I know that the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”

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1 place named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Jerusalem disputed Same compiled history; the underlying traditions are older and tribal.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 1050 BC–1000 BC Samuel
Traditionally ascribed to Samuel, writing after the monarchy began.
Critical: 640 BC–550 BC Deuteronomistic historians
Part of the same exilic history, using older tribal material.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (1050 BC–550 BC).

1600 BC–1046 BC Shang dynasty oracle bones China
The earliest substantial Chinese writing, inscribed on bone and shell for divination.
1200 BC–1000 BC Iron working spreads in the Levant Levant
Iron gradually displaced bronze for tools and weapons across the eastern Mediterranean.
1200 BC–600 BC Zoroaster teaches in Persia Persia
Founder of Zoroastrianism, whose dating is disputed by as much as six centuries. His teaching on a cosmic struggle between good and evil later touched Jewish and Christian thought.
1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
776 BC First recorded Olympiad Greece
The traditional starting point of Greek historical chronology.
753 BC Traditional founding of Rome Rome
The legendary date of Rome's founding, later used as the anchor of the Roman calendar.
745 BC–609 BC Neo-Assyrian empire at its height Mesopotamia
Assyria dominated the Near East, deporting conquered populations as policy, including the northern kingdom of Israel.

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