Mikah's Religious Establishment
17:1 And there was a man of mount Efrayim, whose name [was] Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ).
17:2 And he said to his mother: 'The eleven hundred [shekels] of kesef that were taken from you, about which you cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, Hinei, the kesef [is] with me; I took it.
And his mother said: 'Baruch beni la ADONAI (יהוה).'
17:3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred [shekels] of kesef to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the kesef to ADONAI (יהוה) from my hand for beni (my son), to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to you.
17:4 Yet he restored the money to his mother; and his mother took two hundred [shekels] of kesef, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the bayit of Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ).
17:5 And the man Mikahyehu (מיכה) had an bayit of gods, and made an ephod, and terafim, and consecrated one of his banim, who became his kohen.
17:6 In those days [there was] no melekh in Yisrael, [but] every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.
17:7 And there was a young man out of Beit LechemYehudah of the mishpakhat Yehudah, who [was] a Levi (לויּי), and he sojourned there.
17:8 And the man departed out of the city from Beit Lechem Yehudah to sojourn where he could find [a place]: and he came to mount Efrayim to the bayit Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ), as he journeyed.
17:9 And Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ) said to him, Whence comest thou? And he said to him, I [am] a Levi (לויּי) of Beit Lechem Yehudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find [a place].
17:10 And Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ) said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a avi and a kohen, and I will give you ten [shekels] of kesef by the year, and a suit of apparel, and your victuals. So the Levi (לויּי) went in.
17:11 And the Levi (לויּי) was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his banim.
17:12 And Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ) consecrated the Levi (לויּי); and the young man became his kohen, and was in the bayit of Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ).
17:13 Then said Mikayehu (מיכיהוּ), Now know I that ADONAI (יהוה) will do me good, seeing I have a Levi (לויּי) to [my] kohen.