Judges 17

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¹Now 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!” ✦ ³And 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.” ✦ ⁴So 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. ✦ ⁵Now 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. ✦ ⁷And 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. ¹²Micah 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.” ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Judg 18 ·7 Judg 17 ·3 Exod 20 ·3 Jer 10 ·3 Matt 2 ·2 Deut 12 ·2 Isa 66 ·2 Matt 15 ·2

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Judges videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Judges 17YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Judges 17David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JudgesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Judges 17Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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