1In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danite was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until that day there had not fallen to it within the tribes of Israel an inheritance.
2And the sons of Dan sent from their family five men (ish), men (ish) from their whole number, sons of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them: "Go, search the land." And they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.
3They were by the house of Micah, and they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned aside there, and said to him: "Who brought you here? and what are you doing in this place? and what do you have here?"
4And he said to them: "Thus and thus Micah has done for me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest."
5And they said to him: "Ask, please, of God, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will prosper."
6And the priest said to them: "Go in peace; before YHWH is your way on which you go."
7And the five men (ish) went, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were within it dwelling in security, after the judgment (mishpat) of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; and there was none humiliating a matter in the land, a possessor of restraint; and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no word with man (adam).
8And they came to their brothers, to Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them: "What of you?"
9And they said: "Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good; and you are silent; do not be slothful to go, to enter, to possess the land.
10When you come, you will come to a people secure, and the land is broad of hands, for God has given it into your hand; a place where there is no lack of any thing that is in the land."
11And there journeyed from there, from the family of the Danite, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred man (ish) girded with weapons of war.
12And they went up, and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah; therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan until this day; behold, it is behind Kiriath-jearim.
13And they passed on from there to the hill-country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14And the five men (ish) who went to spy out the land of Laish answered and said to their brothers: "Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod and teraphim and a graven image and a molten image? and now know what you will do."
15And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, the house of Micah, and asked of him for peace.
16And the six hundred man (ish) girded with their weapons of war were standing at the entrance of the gate, who were of the sons of Dan.
17And the five men (ish) who went to spy out the land went up, came in there, took the graven image and the ephod and the teraphim and the molten image; and the priest was standing at the entrance of the gate, with the six hundred man (ish) girded with the weapons of war.
18And these came into the house of Micah, and took the graven image of the ephod and the teraphim and the molten image. And the priest said to them: "What are you doing?"
19And they said to him: "Be silent, put your hand upon your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better your being a priest to the house of one man (ish), or your being a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?"
20And the heart of the priest was glad, and he took the ephod and the teraphim and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
21And they turned and went, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them.
22They had gone far from the house of Micah, and the men (ish) who were in the houses that were by the house of Micah were called together, and overtook the sons of Dan.
23And they called to the sons of Dan, and they turned their faces, and said to Micah: "What is to you, that you are called together?"
24And he said: "My gods that I made you have taken, and the priest, and you have gone; and what more is to me? and what is this you say to me, 'What is to you?'"
25And the sons of Dan said to him: "Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest men (ish) bitter of soul (nephesh) fall upon you, and you gather up your soul (nephesh) and the soul (nephesh) of your house."
26And the sons of Dan went on their way; and Micah saw that they were stronger than he, and he turned and returned to his house.
27And they took what Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came upon Laish, upon a people quiet and secure, and smote them with the mouth of the sword; and the city they burned with fire.
28And there was no deliverer, for it was far from Sidon, and they had no word with man (adam); and it was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt in it.
29And they called the name of the city Dan, by the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; but Laish was the name of the city at the first.
30And the sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danite until the day of the captivity of the land.
31And they set up for themselves the graven image of Micah that he made, all the days that the house of the God was in Shiloh.