He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.”
- KJV And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
- BSB 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.”
- NKJV So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.”
- NASB He then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly consecrate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast metal image; so now I will return them to you.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The mother dedicates the returned silver to Yahweh to make a carved image and a cast idol, then gives it back to Micah. She intends to worship the true God by means He forbids.
Overview
Dedicating money "to Yahweh" to make images directly violates the second commandment (Exod. 20:4). The mother's piety is sincere but lawless, blending devotion to the Lord with pagan practice. This corrupted worship illustrates the book's theme that, without a true king and obedience to God's word, even good intentions produce idolatry.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Lev 19:4“‘Don’t turn to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh your God.
- Exod 20:4“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Exod 20:23You shall most certainly not make alongside of me gods of silver, or gods of gold for yourselves.
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Isa 44:9–20Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
- Deut 12:3You shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.
- Judg 17:13Then Micah said, “Now know I that Yahweh will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”
- Exod 34:17“You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
- Isa 40:18–25To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
- Jer 10:3–5For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
- Judg 18:5They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.”
- Isa 66:3He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
- Hab 2:18–19“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
- John 16:2They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
- Jer 10:8But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 17:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.