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Judges 17:1-3
Evangelical Heritage Version
Judges 17:1-3
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Spirit of the Times: Bad Priests, Bad People
Micah’s Idol
17 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “You know that eleven hundred shekels of silver[a] which were taken from you, about which you spoke a curse that I heard—Look! I have the silver. I took it.”
His mother said, “May my son be blessed by the Lord.”
3 Micah returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother.
Then his mother said, “The silver that I received from my son I solemnly dedicate to the Lord to make a cast and engraved idol[b] for my son’s benefit.[c] So now I will return it to you.”[d]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Judges 17:2 The Hebrew text reads one thousand one hundred ___ of silver without specifying a unit of measure. It probably refers to a collection of scrap silver that weighed eleven hundred shekels. Coins were not yet in use at this time.
- Judges 17:3 The Hebrew text has two distinct nouns meaning a cast idol and an engraved idol. The singular pronouns in the next verse seem to indicate that at this time only one idol, which was cast and engraved, was made from the silver. However, Judges 18:17-18 does refer to more than one idol.
- Judges 17:3 Literally the silver for the Lord from my hand for my son. There are several difficulties of text and translation in this section.
- Judges 17:3 Some translations move this sentence to verse 2, where it becomes a statement of Micah to his mother. Left here in verse 3, where the Hebrew text places it, it is a statement made by the mother about the gift of the idol(s) to Micah.
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
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