The Danites Settle in Laish

1In those dayes there was no kyng in Israel, and in those dayes the tribe of Dan sought them an inheritaunce to dwell in: For vnto that tyme all their inheritaunce had not fallen vnto them among the tribe of Israel. 2And the children of Dan sent of their kynred fyue actiue men in feates of warre out of their coastes, euen out of Zaraah & Esthaol, to viewe the lande and searche it out, and sayde vnto them: Go, and searche out the lande. Which whan they came to mount Ephraim, euen to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 3And when they were in the house of Micah, they knewe the voyce of the young man the Leuite: And when they turned in thyther, they sayde vnto him: Who brought thee thyther? What makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 4And he aunswered them: Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hyred me, and I am become his priest. 5And they sayd vnto hym agayne: Aske counsell now of God, that we may knowe whether the way which we go shalbe prousperous, or no. 6And the priest sayde vnto them: Go in peace, for the Lorde guydeth your way which ye go.

7Then the fyue men departed, & came to Lais, and sawe the people that were therin, howe they dwelt carelesse, after the maner of the Sidons styll, & without castyng of perils, and that no man made any trouble in the lande, or vsurped any dominion: but were farre from the Sidons, and had no busynesse with other men. 8And they came agayne vnto their brethren to Zaraah and Esthaol, and their brethren sayde vnto them: What haue ye done? 9And they aunswered: Aryse, that we may go vp agaynst them, for we haue seene the lande, surely a very good one: And do ye syt styll? Be not slouthfull to go and entre to possesse the lande. 10Yf ye will go, ye shall come vnto a people that casteth no perils, and it is a very large countrey, which God hath geuen into your handes: It is also a place which doth lacke nothing that is in the worlde.

11And there departed thence of the kynred of the Danites, euen out of Zaraah and Esthaol, sixe hundred men appoyntted with instrumentes of warre. 12And they went vp, and pytched in Kiriath iarim, whiche is in Iuda: Wherfore they called the place, Mahaneh Dan, vnto this day, and it is on ye backsyde of Kiriath iarim. 13And they went thence vnto mount Ephraim, & came vnto the house of Micah.

The Danites Take Micah’s Idols

14Then aunswered the fiue men that went to spye out the countrey of Lais, and saide vnto their brethren: Wot ye not that there is in these houses an Ephod, Theraphim, and a grauen and a moulten image? Nowe therfore consider what ye haue to do. 15And they turned thytherwarde, and came to the house of the young man the Leuite, euen vnto the house of Micah, and saluted hym peaceablie. 16And the sixe hundred men girded with weapons of warre, which were of the children of Dan, stoode by the entryng of the gate. 17And the fiue men that went to spye out the lande, went in thyther, & toke the graue image, & the Ephod, Theraphim, and the moulten image: (And the priest stoode in the entryng of the gate with the sixe hundred men that were appointed with weapons of warre.) 18Whyle the other went into Micahs house, and fet the carued image, the Ephod, Theraphim, and the moulten image: Then saide the priest vnto them, what do ye? 19They aunswered hym: Holde thy peace, lay thine hande vpon thy mouth, and come with vs, to be our father and priest: Is it better for thee to be a priest vnto the house of one man, then to be a priest vnto a tribe or kynred in Israel? 20And the priestes hearte was glad, and toke the Ephod, and Theraphim, and the grauen image, and went in the middest of the people.

21And they turned and departed, and put the children, the catell, and their other substaunce before them. 22And whe they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses neare to Micahs house, gathered together, & folowed after the children of Dan: 23And called vnto them, and they turned their faces, & said vnto Micah: What ayleth thee, that thou makest an outcrye? 24And he sayd: Ye haue taken away my goddes which I made, and also ye priest, and go your wayes: and what haue I more? How then saye ye vnto me, What ayleth thee? 25And the children of Dan said vnto him: Let not thy voyce be hearde among vs, lest angrye felowes runne vpon thee, & thou lose thy lyfe, with the lyues of all thyne housholde. 26And so the children of Dan went their wayes: And when Micah sawe that they were to strong for hym, he turned and went backe vnto his house.

27And they toke the thinges which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came vnto Lais, euen vnto a people that were at rest and without mystrust, and smote them with the edge of the sword, & burnt the citie with fire. 28And there was no man to helpe, because Lais was farre from Sidon, & they had medlyng with any other man: And it was in the valley that lyeth by Bethrehob. 29And they buylt them there a citie, and dwelt therin, & called it Dan after the name of Dan their father, which was borne vnto Israel: Howbeit, the name of the citie was Lais at ye begynnyng. 30And the chyldren of Dan set them vp the grauen image: And Ionathan the sonne of Gersom, the sonne of Manasses, and his sonnes, were the priestes in the tribe of Dan, vntyl the day of the captiuitie of the lande. 31And they set them vp the carued image which Micah made, all the while that the house of God was in Silo.