17 And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ² And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah. ³ And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily ^‍dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee. ⁴ And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah. ⁵ And the man Micah had a house of ^‍gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and ^‍consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

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⁷ And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there. ⁸ And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place, and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. ⁹ And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. ¹⁰ And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. ¹¹ And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. ¹² And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³ Then said Micah, Now know I that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

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18 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. ² And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land. And they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, unto the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³ When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned aside thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what doest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? ⁴ And he said unto them, Thus and thus hath Micah dealt with me, and he hath hired me, and I am become his priest. ⁵ And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. ⁶ And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before Jehovah is your way wherein ye go.

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⁷ Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land, possessing ^‍authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man. ⁸ And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? 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 are ye still? be not slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. ¹⁰ When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and the land is large; for God hath given it into your hand, a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth.

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¹¹ And there set forth from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girt with weapons of war. ¹² And they went up, and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan, unto this day; behold, it is behind Kiriath-jearim. ¹³ And they passed thence unto the hill-country of Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

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¹⁴ Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. ¹⁵ And they turned aside thither, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. ¹⁶ And the six hundred men girt with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷ And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girt with weapons of war. ¹⁸ And when these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said unto them, What do ye? ¹⁹ And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be priest unto the house of one man, or to be priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? ²⁰ And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

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²¹ So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them. ²² When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. ²³ And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? ²⁴ And he said, ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and are gone away, and what have I more? and how then say ye unto me, What aileth thee? ²⁵ And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. ²⁶ And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

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²⁷ And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the city with fire. ²⁸ And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt therein. ²⁹ And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. ³⁰ And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹ So they set them up Micah’s graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: ² the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. ³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? ⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born ^‍anew. ⁸ The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? ¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. ¹² If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, ^‍who is in heaven. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; ¹⁵ that whosoever ^‍believeth may in him have eternal life.

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¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. ¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. ²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. ²¹ But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, ^‍that they have been wrought in God.

Jehovah’s care over all his works.

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104 Bless Jehovah, O my soul.
O Jehovah my God, thou art very great;
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty:
² Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment;
Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;
³ Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters;
Who maketh the clouds his chariot;
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind;
⁴ Who maketh winds his messengers;
Flames of fire his ministers;
⁵ Who laid the foundations of the earth,
That it should not be moved for ever.
⁶ Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a vesture;
The waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At thy rebuke they fled;
At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away
⁸ (The mountains rose, the valleys sank down)
Unto the place which thou hadst founded for them.
⁹ Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over;
That they turn not again to cover the earth.
¹⁰ He sendeth forth springs into the valleys;
They run among the mountains;
¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild asses quench their thirst.
¹² By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation;
They sing among the branches.
¹³ He watereth the mountains from his chambers:
The earth is filled with the fruit of thy works.
¹⁴ He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,
And herb for the service of man;
That he may bring forth food out of the earth,
¹⁵ And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
And oil to make his face to shine,
And bread that strengtheneth man’s heart.
¹⁶ The trees of Jehovah are filled with moisture,
The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
¹⁷ Where the birds make their nests:
As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house.
¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats;
The rocks are a refuge for the conies.
¹⁹ He appointed the moon for seasons:
The sun knoweth his going down.
²⁰ Thou makest darkness, and it is night,
Wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
²¹ The young lions roar after their prey,
And seek their food from God.
²² The sun ariseth, they get them away,
And lay them down in their dens.
²³ Man goeth forth unto his work
And to his labor until the evening.

²⁰ The poor is hated even of his own neighbor;
But the rich hath many friends.
²¹ He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth;
But he that hath pity on the poor, happy is he.

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