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.