King James Version · The judges
Judges 18
Touch any underlined name to see who or where it is. Tap a verse number to see where it is taken up elsewhere.
In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the sought them an to in; for unto that day all their had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, , from , and from , to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount , to the house of , they lodged there. When they were by the house of , they knew the voice of the young man the : and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask , we thee, of , that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before is your way wherein ye go. Then the five men departed, and came to , and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the , quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to in any thing; and they were far from the , and had no business with any man. And they came unto their brethren to and : and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? And they said, Arise, that we may 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 to possess the land. When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. And there went from thence of the family of the , out of and out of , six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. And they went up, and pitched in Kirjath–jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh–dan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath–jearim. And they passed thence unto mount , and came unto the house of . Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of , and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an , and teraphim, and a graven , and a molten ? now therefore consider what ye have to do. And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the , even unto the house of , and saluted him. And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the . And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven , and the , and the teraphim, and the molten : and the priest stood in the entering of the with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. 18And these went into ’s house, and fetched the , the , and the teraphim, and the molten . Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy , and go with us, and be to us a and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest’s was glad, and he took the , and the teraphim, and the graven , and went in the midst of the people. 21So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. 22And when they were a good way from the house of , the men that were in the houses near to ’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto , What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. 26And the children of Dan went their way: and when saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. And they took the things which had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto , unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of , and burnt the city with . And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth–rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their , who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was at the first. And the children of Dan set up the graven : and Jonathan, the son of , the son of , he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of of the land. And they set them up ’s graven , which he made, all the time that the house of was in .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.