Judges 18:1-10 ▼

1 In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of the Danite was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for it had not fallen to them until that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel by inheritance.

2 and the sons of Dan sent from their family five men from their territory, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and search it. And they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they went to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they lodged there.

3 While they were with the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And why are you here?”

4 And he said to them, “This and like this Micah has done for me. And he has hired me, and I have become unto him priest.”

5 And they said to him, “Inquire, please, of God, that we may know whether the journey will prosper on which we are going.”

6 And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. Before YHWH is your? way in which you are going.”

7 And the five men departed and went to Laish, and they saw the people who were in its midst, dwelling securely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure, and nothing was lacking in the land in anything, possessing restraint, and they were far off from the Sidonians, and were no ties to them with man.

8 And they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you? say?”

9 And they said, “Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And you? are keeping silent? Do not hesitate to go, to enter to possess the land.

10 When you? enter, you? will come to a people unsuspecting, and the land is large on both hands, for God has given it into your? hands, a place that is not lacking of anything that is on the earth.”