Chapter 17

  And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.  

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  And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah.  

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  And he restored the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.  

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  And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred [pieces] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.  

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  And 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.  

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  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.  

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  And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.  

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  And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find [a place], and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.  

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  And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find [a place].  

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  And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten [pieces] of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.  

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  And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.  

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  And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.  

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  Then said Micah, Now know I that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.  

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