17 Now there was a man named Mikah from the hill country of Efrayim (Ephraim) 2 who admitted to his mother, “Those eleven hundred silver coins that were taken from you—when you made a curse, and even said it when I was listening, well listen, I’ve got it all—I took it myself.”

His mother said, “May Yahweh bless you, my son.” 3 Then he brought back the eleven hundred silver coins to his mother and she declared, “I will certainly consecrate the money to Yahweh for my son’s benefit. Take it and we’ll use it to have one statue carved and another cast.” 4 So after the money had been returned, his mother gave two hundred silver coins to a silversmith. He made a carved figure and one cast from a mould, and they were placed in Mikah’s house.

5 Now that Mikah had a shrine with gods in it, he made some priestly robes and some household gods, and consecrated one of his sons as his priest. 6 In those days, Yisrael (Israel) didn’t have a king—each person would do whatever seemed right to them.

7 Now there was a young Levite man from the family of Yehudah (Judah)[fn] who’d been staying in Beyt-Lehem (Bethlehem) (in Yehudah). 8 He left Beyt-Lehem to find another place to say, and on his way, he ended up arriving at Mikah’s place in the Efrati hill country. 9 “Where have you come from?” Mikah asked him.

“I’m a Levite from Beyt-Lehem in Yehudah,” he replied, “and I’m trying to find a good place to stay a while.”

10 “Stay with me,” said Mikah, “and be like a father and a priest to me. I’ll give you ten silver coins a year as well as board and clothing.” So the Levite man went in 11 and agreed to stay with Mikah, eventually becoming like one of Mikah’s own sons. 12 Mikah ordained the Levite, and the young man became like a priest to him, and lived in his house. 13 “Now I know that Yahweh will make everything go well for me,” Mikah said, “because I have this Levite as a priest.”