There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim; his name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, and about which you also pronounced a curse in my hearing, are with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by Yahweh.” He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother thought, “I will certainly consecrate to Yahweh the pieces of silver from my hand for my son to make an idol of cast metal; now then, I will return them to you.” When he returned the pieces of silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and she gave it to the smith, and he made it into an idol of cast metal; and it was in the house of Micah. The man Micah had for himself a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he appointed one of his sons who became a priest for him. In those days there was no king in Israel, and each one did what was right in his own eyes.

There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, from the clan of Judah; he was a Levite and was dwelling as a foreigner there. And the man went from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live as a foreigner wherever he could find a place. And he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, to continue his journey. And Micah said to him, “From where do you come?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah; I am going to dwell as a foreigner wherever I can find a place.” And Micah said to him, “Stay with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give to you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your food.” So the Levite went with him. The Levite agreed to stay with the man; and the young man became as one of his sons. So Micah appointed the Levite, and the young man became a priest for him; and he was in the house of Micah. And Micah said, “Now I know Yahweh will make me prosperous, because the Levite has become my priest.”

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking territory for itself to live in, because until that day it had not been allotted territory among the tribes of Israel. The descendants of Dan sent from the whole number of their clan five capable men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” And they went to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they spent the night there. While they were with the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite, and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place, and what is your business here?” And he said to them, “Micah did such and such for me and hired me, and I became his priest.” And they said to him, “Please inquire of God that we may know whether our journey that we are going on will be successful.” And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. Yahweh is in front of you on the journey you want to go on.”

And the five men went and came to Laish, and they observed the people who were living according to the customs of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, and lacking nothing in the land, and possessing restraint. And they were far from the Sidonians and had no word with anyone. They came to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their relatives said to them, “What do you report?” And they said to them, “Come, let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to possess the land. When you go you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is spread out on all sides; God has given a place into your hands where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

Six hundred men from the clan of the Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war, set out from there. They went up and encamped at Kiriath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they called this place Camp of Dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath Jearim. From there they crossed over to the hill country of Ephraim, and they came to the house of Micah.

And the five men that went out to spy out the land (that is, Laish) responded and said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, and an idol of cast metal? So then, consider what you must do.” So they turned to that direction, and they came to the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and they greeted him. And six hundred men from the descendants of Dan, armed with their weapons of war, were standing at the entrance of the gate. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and they entered there and took the carved divine image, ephod, teraphim, and the molten image. The priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with the weapons of war. When these went to Micah’s house, they took the divine carved image, ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, and the priest asked them, “What are you doing?” And they said to him, “Keep quiet! Put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be for us a father and a priest. Is it better being a priest for a house of one man or being a priest for a tribe and clan in Israel?” The priest accepted the offer, and he took the ephod, teraphim, and molten image and went along with the people.

And they turned and went and put the little children, the livestock, and the valuable property in front of them. When they were at a distance from the house, Micah and the men who were in the houses that were near the house of Micah cried out, and they overtook the descendants of Dan. And they called to the descendants of Dan, who turned around to face them, and they said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you assembled together?” He said, “You took away my gods that I had made, and the priest, and then you go away. What is now left for me? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter?'” And the descendants of Dan said to him, “You should not let your voice be heard among us, so that ill-tempered men will not attack you, and take your life and the lives of your household.” And the descendants of Dan went their way. When Micah saw that they were stronger than him, he turned to return to his house.

And they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and they came to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people, and they put them to the sword and burned the city with fire. There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belonged to Beth-rehob, and they rebuilt the city and lived in it. And they called the name of the city Dan, after Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the former name of the city was Laish. And the descendants of Dan set up for themselves the carved divine image, and Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests for the tribe of the Danites until the time of the captivity of the land. So they set up for themselves the carved divine image that Micah had made, all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.

A psalm of David.

O Yahweh, the king will rejoice in your strength,

and how greatly he will delight in your help.

You have given him the desire of his heart,

and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

For you meet him with blessings of good things.

You set on his head a crown of fine gold.

He asked life from you; you gave it to him—

length of days forever and ever.

His honor is great because of your help.

Splendor and majesty you have bestowed upon him.

For you set on him blessings forever.

You make him glad with the joy of your presence.

Because the king trusts Yahweh,

and through the steadfast love of the Most High

he shall not be moved.

Your hand will find all your enemies;

your right hand will find those who hate you.

You will make them like your fiery furnace

at the time of your appearance.

Yahweh will swallow them in his wrath

and fire will consume them.

You will destroy their offspring from the earth,

and their descendants from among the children of humankind.

Though they have plotted evil against you,

though they have planned a scheme, they will not prevail.

For you will turn them to flight;

you will aim arrows on your bowstrings at their faces.

Be exalted, O Yahweh, in your strength,

and we sing and praise your power.

I produced the former account, O Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day he was taken up, after he had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after he suffered, with many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking the things about the kingdom of God. And while he was with them, he commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what was promised by the Father, which you heard about from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they began asking him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” But he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest part of the earth.” And after he had said these things, while they were watching, he was taken up, and a cloud received him from their sight. And as they were staring into the sky while he was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood by them who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand there looking into the sky? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven like this will come back in the same way you saw him departing into heaven!”

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain that is called Olive Grove which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying—Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James. All these were busily engaged with one mind in prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (and it was a crowd of persons of about one hundred twenty at the same place) and said, “Men and brothers, it was necessary that the scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit proclaimed beforehand through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus, because he was counted among us and received a share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field for the wages of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines spilled out. And it became known to all who live in Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own language “Akeldama,” that is, “Field of Blood.”) “For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘Let his residence become deserted,

and let there be no one to live in it,’

and,

‘Let another person take his position.’

Therefore it is necessary for one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time in which the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us—one of these men must become a witness of his resurrection together with us.” And they proposed two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was called Justus) and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show clearly which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to depart to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to serve with the eleven apostles.

Until next time, keep meditating on the word of God.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.