Daily Text and Bible Reading: Sunday, March 23 [Press play below]

17.1 There was a man of the mountainous region of Ephraim named Micah.
17.2 He said to his mother: “The 1,100 silver pieces that were taken from you about which you pronounced a curse, which I heard—look! the silver is with me. I was the one who took it.” At that his mother said: “May Jehovah bless my son.”
17.3 So he gave the 1,100 pieces of silver back to his mother, but his mother said: “I will without fail sanctify the silver to Jehovah from my hand for my son to use in making a carved image and a metal statue. Now I give it back to you.”
17.4 After he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took 200 silver pieces and gave them to the silversmith. He made a carved image and a metal statue; and they were put in Micah’s house.
17.5 This man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod and teraphim statues and installed one of his sons to serve as priest for him.
17.6 In those days, there was no king in Israel. Each one was doing what was right in his own eyes.
17.7 Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah who was of the family of Judah. He was a Levite who had been living there for a time.
17.8 The man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to find a place to live. While on his journey, he came to the mountainous region of Ephraim, to the house of Micah.
17.9 Then Micah said to him: “Where do you come from?” He replied: “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to live.”
17.10 So Micah said to him: “Stay with me and serve as a father and a priest for me. I will give you ten silver pieces a year and a set of garments and your food.” So the Levite went in.
17.11 Thus the Levite agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.
17.12 Furthermore, Micah installed the Levite to serve as a priest for him, and he lived in the house of Micah.
17.13 Then Micah said: “Now I know that Jehovah will be good to me, for the Levite has become my priest.”
18.1 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was looking for an inheritance to dwell in, because until then they had not received an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
18.2 The Danites sent five men from among their family, capable men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. They said to them: “Go, explore the land.” When they came to the mountainous region of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they spent the night there.
18.3 While they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite man, so they went over to him and asked: “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is keeping you here?”
18.4 He replied to them: “Thus and so Micah did for me, and he hired me to serve as priest for him.”
18.5 Then they said to him: “Please ask God whether our journey will be successful.”
18.6 The priest said to them: “Go in peace. Jehovah is with you on your journey.”
18.7 So the five men went on and came to Laish. They saw how the people in it were dwelling in self-reliance in the manner of the Sidonians. They were quiet and unsuspecting, and no oppressive conqueror was in the land to disturb them. They were far away from the Sidonians, and they had no dealings with anyone else.
18.8 When they returned to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them: “How did it go?”
18.9 They replied: “Let us go up against them, for we have seen that the land is very good. Why are you hesitant? Do not delay to go in to take possession of the land.
18.10 When you arrive, you will find an unsuspecting people, and the land is spacious. God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything on the earth.”
18.11 Then 600 men armed for battle from the family of the Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol.
18.12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why that place, which is west of Kiriath-jearim, is called Mahaneh-dan to this day.
18.13 They went from there to the mountainous region of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.
18.14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers: “Did you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim statues, a carved image, and a metal statue? Think about what you should do.”
18.15 So they stopped there and came to the house of the young Levite man at the house of Micah and asked how he was.
18.16 All the while the 600 men of Dan, armed for battle, stood at the entrance of the gate.
18.17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside to take the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim statues, and the metal image. (The priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed for battle.)
18.18 They went into the house of Micah and took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim statues, and the metal image. The priest said to them: “What are you doing?”
18.19 But they said to him: “Be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth, and come with us to be a father and a priest for us. Which is better—for you to be a priest to the house of one man or to become a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?”
18.20 So the priest was satisfied, and he took the ephod, the teraphim statues, and the carved image and went off with the people.
18.21 Then they turned to go on their way, putting the children, the livestock, and the valuable things ahead of them.
18.22 They had gone some distance away from the house of Micah when the men who lived in the houses near the house of Micah gathered together and caught up with the Danites.
18.23 When they cried out to the Danites, they turned to face them and said to Micah: “What is the matter? Why have you been gathered together?”
18.24 So he said: “You have taken my gods that I made, and you have gone off with the priest too. What do I have left? How, then, can you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”
18.25 The Danites replied: “Do not raise your voice against us; otherwise, angry men may assault you, and that would cost you your life and the lives of your household.”
18.26 So the Danites went on their way; and Micah, seeing that they were stronger than he was, turned and went back to his house.
18.27 After they took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, they went to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city with fire.
18.28 There was no one to rescue it, for it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone else and it was in the valley plain that belonged to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and settled in it.
18.29 Furthermore, they named the city Dan after the name of their father, Dan, who was born to Israel. But Laish was the city’s former name.
18.30 After that the Danites set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons became priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day that the inhabitants of the land went into exile.
18.31 And they set up the carved image that Micah had made, and it remained there all the days that the house of the true God was in Shiloh.
19.1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who was then living in a remote part of the mountainous region of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah as his wife.
19.2 But his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she left him to go to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah. She remained there for four months.
19.3 Then her husband went after her to persuade her to come back; he had his male attendant and a couple of donkeys with him. So she brought him into her father’s house. When her father saw him, he was glad to meet him.
19.4 So his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, convinced him to stay with him three days; and they would eat and drink, and he would spend the night there.
19.5 On the fourth day, when they got up early in the morning to go, the father of the young woman said to his son-in-law: “Eat something to give you strength, and then you may go.”
19.6 So they sat down, and they both ate and drank together; after that the father of the young woman said to the man: “Please, stay overnight and enjoy yourself.”
19.7 When the man rose to go, his father-in-law kept begging him, so he stayed overnight again.
19.8 When he got up early in the morning on the fifth day to go, the father of the young woman said: “Please, eat something to give you strength.” And they lingered until it was late in the day, and they both kept eating.
19.9 When the man rose to go with his concubine and his attendant, his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him: “Look, now! It is almost evening. Please, stay overnight. Here the day is coming to an end. Stay here overnight and enjoy yourself. Tomorrow you can get up early for your journey and go to your home.”
19.10 However, the man did not want to stay another night, so he got up and traveled as far as Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. He had with him the two saddled donkeys, his concubine, and his attendant.
19.11 When they were close to Jebus, the daylight was nearly gone. So the attendant said to his master: “Should we stop at this city of the Jebusites and stay overnight here?”
19.12 But his master said to him: “We should not stop at a city of foreigners who are not Israelites. We will go on as far as Gibeah.”
19.13 Then he said to his attendant: “Come and let us try to reach one of those places; we will stay overnight either in Gibeah or in Ramah.”
19.14 So they went on their way, and the sun began to set when they were near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
19.15 So they stopped there and went in to stay overnight in Gibeah. Once inside, they sat down in the public square of the city, but nobody took them into his house to stay overnight.
19.16 Eventually that evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the mountainous region of Ephraim, and he was living for a time in Gibeah; but the residents of the city were Benjaminites.
19.17 When he looked up and saw the traveler in the public square of the city, the old man said: “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”
19.18 He replied: “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area of the mountainous region of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of Jehovah, but nobody is taking me into his house.
19.19 We have enough straw and fodder for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, the woman, and our attendant. There is nothing lacking.”
19.20 However, the old man said: “May you have peace! Let me take care of anything you need. Just do not stay overnight in the public square.”
19.21 So he brought him into his house and gave feed to the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.
19.22 While they were enjoying themselves, some worthless men of the city surrounded the house and were pounding on the door, and they kept saying to the old man who owned the house: “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have sex with him.”
19.23 At that the owner of the house went out and said to them: “No, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Please, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this disgraceful act.
19.24 Here are my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. Let me bring them out, and you can humiliate them if you must. But you must not commit this disgraceful act toward this man.”
19.25 But the men refused to listen to him, so the man grabbed hold of his concubine and brought her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night long until the morning. Then they sent her away at the break of dawn.
19.26 Early in the morning, the woman came and fell down at the entrance of the man’s house where her master was and lay there until it was light.
19.27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the doors of the house to go out to resume his journey, he saw the woman, his concubine, lying at the entrance of the house with her hands on the threshold.
19.28 So he said to her: “Get up; let us go.” But there was no answer. The man then put her on the donkey and set out for his home.
19.29 When he reached his house, he took the slaughtering knife and took hold of his concubine and cut her up limb by limb into 12 pieces and sent one piece into each territory of Israel.
19.30 All who saw it said: “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt down to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and tell us what to do.”