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The Blue Letter Bible

Judges 18 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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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 (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
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 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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Judges Chapter 18 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras