1 Now there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim named Micah.2 And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver which were taken from you, about which you took an oath and said in my hearing, I have given this silver to the Lord from my hand for myself, to make a pictured image and a metal image: see, I have the silver, for I took it: so now I will give it back to you. And his mother said, May the blessing of the Lord be on my son.3 And he gave back the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, and his mother said, I have made the silver holy to the Lord from me for my son, to make a pictured image and a metal image.4 So he gave the silver back to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a metal-worker who made a pictured image and a metal image from them: and it was in the house of Micah.5 And the man Micah had a house of gods; and he made an ephod and family gods and put one of his sons in the position of priest.6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did as seemed right to him.7 Now there was a young man living in Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah and a Levite, who was not a townsman of the place.8 And he went away from the town of Beth-lehem-judah, looking for somewhere to make his living-place; and on his journey he came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah.9 And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite from Beth-lehem-judah, and I am looking for a living-place.10 Then Micah said to him, Make your living-place with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver a year and your clothing and food.11 And the Levite said he would make his living-place with the man, and he became to him as one of his sons.12 And Micah gave the position to the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.13 Then Micah said, Now I am certain that the Lord will do me good, seeing that the Levite has become my priest.

1 Fuit eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas, 2 qui dixit matri su : Mille et centum argenteos, quos separaveras tibi, et super quibus me audiente juraveras, ecce ego habeo, et apud me sunt. Cui illa respondit : Benedictus filius meus Domino. 3 Reddidit ergo eos matri su, qu dixerat ei : Consecravi et vovi hoc argentum Domino, ut de manu mea suscipiat filius meus, et faciat sculptile atque conflatile : et nunc trado illud tibi. 4 Reddidit igitur eos matri su : qu tulit ducentos argenteos, et dedit eos argentario, ut faceret ex eis sculptile atque conflatile, quod fuit in domo Mich. 5 Qui diculam quoque in ea deo separavit, et fecit ephod, et theraphim, id est, vestem sacerdotalem, et idola : implevitque unius filiorum suorum manum, et factus est ei sacerdos. 6 In diebus illis non erat rex in Isral, sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.7 Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Juda, ex cognatione ejus : eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi. 8 Egressusque de civitate Bethlehem, peregrinari voluit ubicumque sibi commodum reperisset. Cumque venisset in montem Ephraim, iter faciens, et declinasset parumper in domum Mich, 9 interrogatus est ab eo unde venisset. Qui respondit : Levita sum de Bethlehem Juda, et vado ut habitem ubi potuero, et utile mihi esse perspexero. 10 Dixitque Michas : Mane apud me, et esto mihi parens ac sacerdos : daboque tibi per annos singulos decem argenteos, ac vestem duplicem, et qu ad victum sunt necessaria. 11 Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis. 12 Implevitque Michas manum ejus, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se : 13 Nunc scio, dicens, quod benefaciet mihi Deus habenti Levitici generis sacerdotem.