4. And he said to them, “Micah did such and such for me and hired me, and I became his priest.”
5. And they said to him, “Please inquire of God that we may know whether our journey that we are going on will be successful.”
6. And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. Yahweh is in front of you on the journey you want to go on.”
7. And the five men went and came to Laish, and they observed the people who were living according to the customs of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, and lacking nothing in the land, and possessing restraint. And they were far from the Sidonians and had no word with anyone.
8. They came to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their relatives said to them, “What do you report?”
9. And they said to them, “Come, let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to possess the land.
10. When you go you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is spread out on all sides; God has given a place into your hands where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”
11. Six hundred men from the clan of the Danites from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war, set out from there.
12. They went up and encamped at Kiriath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they called this place Camp of Dan to this day; it is west of Kiriath Jearim.
13. From there they crossed over to the hill country of Ephraim, and they came to the house of Micah.
14. And the five men that went out to spy out the land (that is, Laish) responded and said to their relatives, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, teraphim, and an idol of cast metal? So then, consider what you must do.”
15. So they turned to that direction, and they came to the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and they greeted him.
16. And six hundred men from the descendants of Dan, armed with their weapons of war, were standing at the entrance of the gate.
17. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and they entered there and took the carved divine image, ephod, teraphim, and the molten image. The priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with the weapons of war.
18. When these went to Micah’s house, they took the divine carved image, ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, and the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”
19. And they said to him, “Keep quiet! Put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be for us a father and a priest. Is it better being a priest for a house of one man or being a priest for a tribe and clan in Israel?”