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¹ In those dayes there was no kyng in Israel, and in those dayes the tribe of Dan sought them an inheritaunce to dwell in: For vnto that tyme all their inheritaunce had not fallen vnto them among the tribe of Israel.

² And the children of Dan sent of their kynred fyue actiue men in feates of warre out of their coastes, euen out of Zaraah & Esthaol, to viewe the lande and searche it out, and sayde vnto them: Go, and searche out the lande. Which whan they came to mount Ephraim, euen to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

³ And when they were in the house of Micah, they knewe the voyce of the young man the Leuite: And when they turned in thyther, they sayde vnto him: Who brought thee thyther? What makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

⁴ And he aunswered them: Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hyred me, and I am become his priest.

⁵ And they sayd vnto hym agayne: Aske counsell now of God, that we may knowe whether the way which we go shalbe prousperous, or no.

⁶ And the priest sayde vnto them: Go in peace, for the Lorde guydeth your way which ye go.

⁷ Then the fyue men departed, & came to Lais, and sawe the people that were therin, howe they dwelt carelesse, after the maner of the Sidons styll, & without castyng of perils, and that no man made any trouble in the lande, or vsurped any dominion: but were farre from the Sidons, and had no busynesse with other men.

⁸ And they came agayne vnto their brethren to Zaraah and Esthaol, and their brethren sayde vnto them: What haue ye done?

⁹ And they aunswered: Aryse, that we may go vp agaynst them, for we haue seene the lande, surely a very good one: And do ye syt styll? Be not slouthfull to go and entre to possesse the lande.

¹⁰ Yf ye will go, ye shall come vnto a people that casteth no perils, and it is a very large countrey, which God hath geuen into your handes: It is also a place which doth lacke nothing that is in the worlde.

¹¹ And there departed thence of the kynred of the Danites, euen out of Zaraah and Esthaol, sixe hundred men appoyntted with instrumentes of warre.

¹² And they went vp, and pytched in Kiriath iarim, whiche is in Iuda: Wherfore they called the place, Mahaneh Dan, vnto this day, and it is on ye backsyde of Kiriath iarim.

¹³ And they went thence vnto mount Ephraim, & came vnto the house of Micah.

¹⁴ Then aunswered the fiue men that went to spye out the countrey of Lais, and saide vnto their brethren: Wot ye not that there is in these houses an Ephod, Theraphim, and a grauen and a moulten image? Nowe therfore consider what ye haue to do.

¹⁵ And they turned thytherwarde, and came to the house of the young man the Leuite, euen vnto the house of Micah, and saluted hym peaceablie.

¹⁶ And the sixe hundred men girded with weapons of warre, which were of the children of Dan, stoode by the entryng of the gate.

¹⁷ And the fiue men that went to spye out the lande, went in thyther, & toke the graue image, & the Ephod, Theraphim, and the moulten image: (And the priest stoode in the entryng of the gate with the sixe hundred men that were appointed with weapons of warre.)

¹⁸ Whyle the other went into Micahs house, and fet the carued image, the Ephod, Theraphim, and the moulten image: Then saide the priest vnto them, what do ye?

¹⁹ They aunswered hym: Holde thy peace, lay thine hande vpon thy mouth, and come with vs, to be our father and priest: Is it better for thee to be a priest vnto the house of one man, then to be a priest vnto a tribe or kynred in Israel?

²⁰ And the priestes hearte was glad, and toke the Ephod, and Theraphim, and the grauen image, and went in the middest of the people.

²¹ And they turned and departed, and put the children, the catell, and their other substaunce before them.

²² And whe they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses neare to Micahs house, gathered together, & folowed after the children of Dan:

²³ And called vnto them, and they turned their faces, & said vnto Micah: What ayleth thee, that thou makest an outcrye?

²⁴ And he sayd: Ye haue taken away my goddes which I made, and also ye priest, and go your wayes: and what haue I more? How then saye ye vnto me, What ayleth thee?

²⁵ And the children of Dan said vnto him: Let not thy voyce be hearde among vs, lest angrye felowes runne vpon thee, & thou lose thy lyfe, with the lyues of all thyne housholde.

²⁶ And so the children of Dan went their wayes: And when Micah sawe that they were to strong for hym, he turned and went backe vnto his house.

²⁷ And they toke the thinges which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came vnto Lais, euen vnto a people that were at rest and without mystrust, and smote them with the edge of the sword, & burnt the citie with fire.

²⁸ And there was no man to helpe, because Lais was farre from Sidon, & they had medlyng with any other man: And it was in the valley that lyeth by Bethrehob.

²⁹ And they buylt them there a citie, and dwelt therin, & called it Dan after the name of Dan their father, which was borne vnto Israel: Howbeit, the name of the citie was Lais at ye begynnyng.

³⁰ And the chyldren of Dan set them vp the grauen image: And Ionathan the sonne of Gersom, the sonne of Manasses, and his sonnes, were the priestes in the tribe of Dan, vntyl the day of the captiuitie of the lande.

³¹ And they set them vp the carued image which Micah made, all the while that the house of God was in Silo.