Judges 17

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¹There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ✦ ²He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May Yahweh bless my son!” ✦ ³He 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.” ✦ ⁴When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made an engraved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah. ✦ ⁵The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ✦ ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. ✦ ⁷There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there. ✦ ⁸The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled. ✦ ⁹Micah said to him, “Where did you come from?” He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.” ¹⁰Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in. ✦ ¹¹The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. ¹²Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ✦ ¹³Then Micah said, “Now know I that Yahweh will do good to me, since I have a Levite as 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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