Judges 18:17-31

¹⁷And the five men that had gone to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood in the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men that were girded with the weapons of war.

¹⁸And these went into Micah's house, and took the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest said unto them, What are ye doing?

¹⁹And they said unto him, Be still, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and become to us a father and a priest: is it better that thou be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

²⁰And the priest's heart became glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and came into the midst of the people.

²¹And they turned and went away, and placed the little ones and the cattle and the heavy things before them.

²²When they were at a distance from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were called together, and they overtook the children of Dan.

²³And they called unto the children of Dan, who turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou hast called out thy people?

²⁴And he said, My god which I made have ye taken away, and the priest, and are gone away; and what have I more? and what is this ye say unto me, What aileth thee?

²⁵And the children of Dan said unto him, Cause not thy voice to be heard among us, lest men of an embittered spirit assail thee, and thou lose thy life, with the life of thy household.

²⁶And the children of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

²⁷And they took what Micah had made, and the priest whom he had had, and came over Layish, over a people that were quiet and secure; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and the city they burnt with fire.

²⁸And there was no deliverer; because it was far from Zidon, and the people had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rechob. And they rebuilt the city, and dwelt therein.

²⁹And they called the name of the city, Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: nevertheless, Layish was the name of the city at first.

³⁰And the children of Dan erected for themselves the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Menasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the exile of the land.

³¹And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image, which he had made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.