In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. Jdg 1:34Jdg 17:6Jdg 19:1Jdg 21:25Jos 19:40-48 The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!” Jdg 13:25Jos 2:1Jdg 18:11Jdg 18:8Num 13:17Gen 42:9Jdg 13:2Jdg 16:31
They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they went over there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What do you do in this place? What do you have here?” Gen 27:22Mat 26:73Isa 22:16Jdg 12:6
He said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” Ezk 13:19Jdg 17:10Jdg 17:12Jhn 10:12-131Ti 3:32Pe 2:14-152Pe 2:3Act 20:33
They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.” 1Ki 22:5Act 8:10Isa 30:1Hos 4:122Ki 16:15Ezk 21:21Jdg 17:13Jdg 17:5
The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before the LORD.” 1Ki 22:61Ki 22:121Ki 22:151Th 3:11Deu 11:12Jer 23:21-22Jer 23:32Psa 33:18
Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else. Jos 19:471Sa 3:13Jdg 18:27-281Ki 1:61Pe 2:14Rev 18:7Rom 13:3 They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them, “What do you say?” Jdg 18:11Jdg 18:2Jdg 13:2Jdg 16:31
They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. Jos 2:23-24Num 13:30Jhn 6:27Jos 18:31Ki 22:231Ki 22:31Sa 4:92Pe 1:10-11 When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.” Jdg 18:271Ti 6:17Jdg 18:7Deu 11:11-12Deu 2:29Deu 4:1Deu 8:7-9Exo 3:8
The family of the Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol with six hundred men armed with weapons of war. Jdg 18:16 They went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they call that place Mahaneh Dan to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim. Jdg 13:251Ch 13:5-6Jos 15:601Sa 7:12Ch 1:4 They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah. Jdg 17:1Jdg 18:2-3Jdg 19:1Jos 24:30Jos 24:33
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, 1 and a carved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do.” Jdg 17:5Jdg 18:3-4Pro 19:271Sa 14:28Isa 8:19-20 They went over there and came to the house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he was doing. Gen 43:27Jhn 14:271Sa 17:222Ki 4:26Gen 37:14Luk 10:4-6Mat 10:12-13 The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. Jdg 18:11 The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. Jdg 18:14Jdg 17:4-5Jdg 18:21Sa 4:111Sa 6:2-92Ki 19:18-19Exo 32:20Gen 31:19
When these went into Micah’s house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” Jdg 17:10Job 21:5Job 29:9Mic 7:16Pro 30:322Ki 13:142Ki 6:212Ki 8:8-9
The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people. Isa 56:112Pe 2:15-162Pe 2:3Act 20:33Ezk 13:19Hos 4:3Jdg 17:10Php 3:19 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods before them. When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. As they called to the children of Dan, they turned their faces, and said to Micah, “What ails you, that you come with such a company?” Gen 21:171Sa 11:52Ki 6:282Sa 14:5Isa 22:1Psa 114:5
He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’” Hab 2:18-19Isa 44:18-20Psa 115:8Act 19:26Ezk 23:5Jdg 17:13Jer 50:38Jer 51:17
The children of Dan said to him, “Don’t let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household.” Job 27:21Sa 30:62Sa 17:8Job 3:5
The children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire. Jos 19:47Jdg 18:7Jdg 18:10Deu 33:22Jos 11:11 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city and lived in it. 2Sa 10:6Jdg 18:7Num 13:21Psa 7:22Sa 14:6Dan 3:15-17Isa 23:12Isa 23:4 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; however the name of the city used to be Laish. Jos 19:471Ki 15:20Gen 14:141Ki 12:29-30Gen 30:6Jdg 20:12Sa 17:11Gen 32:28 The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 1Sa 4:10-11Exo 2:221Sa 4:2-3Deu 31:29Jdg 13:1Jdg 17:3Jdg 17:5Psa 78:60-62 So they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was in Shiloh. Jos 18:11Sa 1:3Jdg 19:181Sa 4:4Jdg 21:21Jer 7:12