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Today's Bible Reading :: Judges 16 - 18 (ESV)

Judges 16Listen to the passage

Judges 17Listen to the passage

Judges 18Listen to the passage

Judges 16

Samson and Delilah

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:1

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:1 - Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:2

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:2 - The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:3

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:3 - But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:4

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:4 - After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:5

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:5 - And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:6

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:6 - So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:7

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:7 - Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:8 - Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:9

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:9 - Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:10

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:10 - Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:11

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:11 - And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:12

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:12 - So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:13 - Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:14

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:14 - So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.[fn] And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:15

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:15 - And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:16

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:16 - And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:17

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:17 - And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:18

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:18 - When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:19

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:19 - She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:20

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:20 - And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:21

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:21 - And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:22

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:22 - But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:23

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:23 - Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:24

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:24 - And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:25

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:25 - And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:26

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:26 - And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:27

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:27 - Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:28

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:28 - Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:29

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:29 - And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:30

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:30 - And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 16:31

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 16:31 - Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.
ESV Footnotes
Compare Septuagint; Hebrew lacks and fasten it tight… into the web
Or who has multiplied our slain

Judges 17

Micah and the Levite

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:1

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:1 - There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:2

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:2 - And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 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.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:3

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:3 - And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:4

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:4 - So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:5

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:5 - And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained[fn] one of his sons, who became his priest.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:6

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:6 - In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:7

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:7 - Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:8 - And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:9

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:9 - And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:10

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:10 - And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:11

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:11 - And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:12

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:12 - And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 17:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 17:13 - Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew filled the hand of; also verse 12

Judges 18

Danites Take the Levite and the Idol

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:1

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:1 - In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:2

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:2 - So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:3

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:3 - When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:4

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:4 - And he said to them, “This is how Micah dealt with me: he has hired me, and I have become his priest.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:5

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:5 - And they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:6

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:6 - And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the LORD.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:7

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:7 - Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking[fn] nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:8 - And when they came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:9

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:9 - They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:10

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:10 - As soon as you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:11

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:11 - So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol,

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:12

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:12 - and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan[fn] to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:13 - And they passed on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:14

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:14 - Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:15

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:15 - And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him about his welfare.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:16

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:16 - Now the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:17

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:17 - And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:18

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:18 - And when these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:19

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:19 - And they said to him, “Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:20

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:20 - And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:21

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:21 - So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the goods in front of them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:22

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:22 - When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:23

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:23 - And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:24

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:24 - And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:25

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:25 - And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:26

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:26 - Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:27

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:27 - But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:28

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:28 - And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:29

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:29 - And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:30

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:30 - And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses,[fn] and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 18:31

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 18:31 - So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.
See the ESV Preface
ESV Footnotes
Compare 18:10; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Mahaneh-dan means camp of Dan
Or Manasseh
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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