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17:1 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 17:2 And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by the LORD." 17:3 He then returned the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return them to you." 17:4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred [pieces] of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. 17:5 And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest. 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. 17:7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was staying there. 17:8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he might find [a place]; and as he made his journey, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 17:9 And Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" And he said to him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I may find [a place]." 17:10 Micah then said to him, "Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten [pieces] of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance." So the Levite went [in]. 17:11 And the Levite agreed to live with the man; and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 17:12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. 17:13 Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest."