And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter {Or, an adjuration}a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah.
And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily {Or, had dedicated}dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah.
And the man Micah had a house of {Or, God}gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and {Hebrew: filled the hand of.}consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.
And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place, and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.
And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.
And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.
And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.
And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
Then said Micah, Now know I that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
Querverweise zu Richter 17,7 Ri 17,7
And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah.
And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there the space of four months.
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).
and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.
And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the {Hebrew: field.}country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife {Hebrew: Noomi.}Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
{[Chapter 5:1 in Hebrew.]}But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the {Or, families See Judges 6:15.}thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, {Or, from ancient days}from everlasting.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, {Greek: Magi. Compare Esther 1:13; Daniel 2:12; Acts 13:6, 8.}Wise-men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written through the prophet,
{Micah 5:2.}And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah,Art in no wise least among the princes of Judah:For out of thee shall come forth a governor,Who shall be shepherd of my people Israel.