Judges
Chapter 18
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Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
A dotted word is a harder one. Point at it, or tap it, for a short definition.
1In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danite was looking for itself an inheritance to live in, for until that day no inheritance had fallen to it among the tribes of Israel.
2The sons of Dan sent from their clan five men from their whole number, men of worth, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. They said to them, Go, search the land. They came to the hill country of Ephraim, as far as Micah’s house, and they spent the night there.
3They were near Micah’s house, and they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside there and said to him, Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?
4He said to them, Micah has done such and such for me. He hired me, and I became his priest.
5They said to him, Please inquire of God, so that we may know whether the way we are going on will succeed.
6The priest said to them, Go in peace. The way you are going on is in front of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary..
7The five men went and came to Laish. They saw the people who were in it, living in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and trusting, with no one humiliating them in the land, no one possessing restraint. They were far from the Sidonians and had nothing to do with anyone.
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- Translation
Yoresh etser is printed as no one possessing restraint. The phrase is compressed in the Hebrew.
8They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, What do you say?
9They said, Get up, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and look, it is very good. You are sitting still. Do not be slack about going, to enter and take possession of the land.
10When you go, you will come to a trusting people, and the land is broad on both sides. For God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the land.
11Six hundred men of the clan of the Danite set out from there, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.
12They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they call that place Mahaneh-dan to this day. Look, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.
13They passed on from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.
14The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish answered and said to their brothers, Do you know that in these houses there are an A special vest the priest wore., Household images kept in a home., a carved image, and a cast image? Now decide what you will do.
15They turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, Micah’s house, and they asked him about his welfare.
16The six hundred men, armed with their weapons of war, were standing at the opening of the gate, the ones who were of the sons of Dan.
17The five men who had gone to spy out the land went up, came in there, and took the carved image, the A special vest the priest wore., the Household images kept in a home., and the cast image. The priest was standing at the opening of the gate, with the six hundred men armed with the weapons of war.
18These went into Micah’s house and took the carved image of the A special vest the priest wore., the Household images kept in a home., and the cast image. The priest said to them, What are you doing?
19They said to him, Be quiet. Put your hand on your mouth, and come with us, and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be a priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?
20The priest’s heart was glad. He took the A special vest the priest wore., the Household images kept in a home., and the carved image, and he went in among the people.
21They turned and went, and they put the children, the livestock, and the goods in front of them.
22They had gone a distance from Micah’s house, and the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they caught up with the sons of Dan.
23They called to the sons of Dan, and they turned their faces and said to Micah, What is the matter with you, that you have been called out?
24He said, You have taken my gods that I made, and the priest, and you have gone. What do I have left? How can you say to me, What is the matter with you?
25The sons of Dan said to him, Do not let your voice be heard among us, or men of bitter spirit will strike you, and you will gather up your life, and the life of your house.
26The sons of Dan went on their way. Micah saw that they were stronger than he was, so he turned and went back to his house.
27They took what Micah had made, and the priest who had been his, and they came against Laish, against a people quiet and trusting, and they struck them by the mouth of the sword and burned the city with fire.
28There was no one to rescue them, because it was far from Sidon, and they had nothing to do with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it.
29They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. But Laish was the name of the city at first.
30The sons of Dan set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom son of Manasseh, he and his sons, were priests to the tribe of the Danite until the day of the exile of the land.
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- Text
The nun in Menasheh, Manasseh, is written suspended, above the line. Without that letter the consonants are Mosheh, Moses. The written name, including the suspended letter, is printed.
31They set up for themselves Micah’s carved image that he had made, all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.