1. In those days there was no sovereign in Yisra’ĕl. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in, for until that day all their inheritance among the tribes of Yisra’ĕl had not yet fallen to them.
2. And the children of Dan sent five men of their clan, brave men from Tsor‛ah and Eshta’ol, to spy out the land and search it. And they said to them, “Go, search the land,” so they went to the mountains of Ephrayim, to the house of Miḵah, and spent the night there.
3. When they were near the house of Miḵah, they recognised the voice of the young Lĕwite, and turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place, and what do you have here?”
4. And he said to them, “Miḵah did such and such for me. And he hired me, and I have become his priest.”
5. And they said to him, “Please inquire of Elohim, and we shall know whether the journey on which we are going is prosperous.”
6. And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your journey on which you go is before יהוה.”
7. Then the five men left and came to Layish, and saw the people who were in their midst, how they dwelt safely, according to the ruling of the Tsiḏonians, at rest and unsuspecting. And no one possessing authority in the land was reproaching for any matter. And they were far from the Tsiḏonians, and they had no word with anyone.
8. And the spies came back to their brothers at Tsor‛ah and Eshta’ol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you say?”
9. And they said, “Arise, and let us go up against them. For we have seen the land, and look, it is very good. And you sit still! Do not hesitate to go to enter in to possess the land.
10. “When you go, you are to come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is spacious. For Elohim has given it into your hands, a place in which there is no lack of any matter which is on the earth.”
11. And six hundred men of the clan of the Danites went from there, from Tsor‛ah and Eshta’ol, armed for battle.
12. And they went up and encamped in Qiryath Ye‛arim in Yehuḏah. Therefore they call that place Maḥanĕh Ḏan to this day. See, it is west of Qiryath Ye‛arim.
13. And they passed over from there to the mountains of Ephrayim, and came to the house of Miḵah.
14. And the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Layish answered and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there are in these houses a shoulder garment, and house idols, and a carved image, and a moulded image? And now, you know what to do.”