1 Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse— I have the silver here with me; I took it.”

Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord!”

3 And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”

4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.

5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest. 6In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

7 And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah. 8This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

9“Where are you from?” Micah asked him.

“I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.”

10“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.”

So the Levite went in 11and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.

12 Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. 13Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

1 In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them.

The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. 3And while they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”

4“Micah has done this and that for me,” he replied, “and he has hired me to be his priest.”

5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.”

6 And the priest told them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over your journey.”

7 So the five men departed and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living securely, like the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. And they were far away from the Sidonians and had no alliance with anyone.

8 When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”

9 They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why would you fail to act? Do not hesitate to go there and take possession of the land! 10When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has delivered it into your hand. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”

11 So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war. 12They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is called Mahaneh-dan to this day. 13And from there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”

15 So they turned aside there and went to the home of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and greeted him.

16 The six hundred Danites stood at the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war. 17And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men.

18 When they entered Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

19“Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?”

20 So the priest was glad and took the ephod, the household idols, and the graven image, and went with the people. 21Putting their small children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned and departed.

22 After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men in the houses near Micah’s house mobilized and overtook the Danites. 23When they called out after them, the Danites turned to face them and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you have called out such a company?”

24 He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”

25 The Danites said to him, “Do not raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”

26 So the Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were too strong for him.

27 After they had taken Micah’s idols and his priest, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people, and they struck them with their swords and burned down the city. 28There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob.

And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there. 29They named it Dan, after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel — though the city was formerly named Laish.

30 The Danites set up idols for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ”

4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.

12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven— the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”