The Tribe of Dan - Judges 18

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in  those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an  inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their  inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of  Israel. 

Judges 18:2 And the children of Dan sent of their family  five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and  from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they  said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to  mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.  

Judges 18:3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew  the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in  thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and  what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?  

Judges 18:4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah  with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 

Judges 18:5 And  they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that  we may know whether our way which we go shall be  prosperous. 

Judges 18:6 And the priest said unto them, Go in  peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.  

Judges 18:7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish,  and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt  careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and  secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might  put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from  the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. 

Judges 18:8  And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol:  and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 

Judges 18:9  And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for  we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and  are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess  the land. 

Judges 18:10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people  secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your  hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is  in the earth.  

Judges 18:11 And there went from thence of the family of the  Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men  appointed with weapons of war. 

Judges 18:12 And they went up,  and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they  called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this day: behold, it is  behind Kirjath-jearim. 

Judges 18:13 And they passed thence unto  mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.   

Judges 18:14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out  the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye  know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim,  and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore  consider what ye have to do. 

Judges 18:15 And they turned  thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the  Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.  

Judges 18:16 And the six hundred men appointed with their  weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood  by the entering of the gate. 

Judges 18:17 And the five men that  went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither,  and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the  teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the  entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were  appointed with weapons of war. 

Judges 18:18 And these went  into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the  ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said  the priest unto them, What do ye? 

Judges 18:19 And they said  unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth,  and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it  better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or  that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?  

Judges 18:20 And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the  ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in  the midst of the people. 
Judges 18:21 So they turned and  departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the  carriage before them.  

Judges 18:22 And when they were a good way from the  house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to  Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the  children of Dan. 

Judges 18:23 And they cried unto the children  of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah,  What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?  

Judges 18:24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I  made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I  more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth  thee? 

Judges 18:25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let  not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run  upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy  household.

Judges 18:26 And the children of Dan went their  way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for  him, he turned and went back unto his house. 

Judges 18:27 And  they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest  which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that  were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the  edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 

Judges 18:28 And  there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon,  and they had no business with any man; and it was in the  valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and  dwelt therein. 

Judges 18:29 And they called the name of the city  Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto  Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.  

Judges 18:30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image:  and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he  and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of  the captivity of the land. 

Judges 18:31 And they set them up  Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the  house of God was in Shiloh.  KJV


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