Judges 17:3-4

17:3 When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate ¹  this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” ²  17:4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she ³  took two hundred pieces of silver ⁴  to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. ⁵ 

[17:3]  ¹ tn Heb “dedicating, I dedicate.” In this case the emphatic infinitive absolute lends a mood of solemnity to the statement.

[17:3]  ² tn Heb “to the LORD from my hand for my son to make a carved image and cast metal image.” She cannot mean that she is now taking the money from her hand and giving it back to her son so he can make an image. Verses 4-6 indicate she took back the money and used a portion of it to hire a silversmith to make an idol for her son to use. The phrase “a carved image and cast metal image” is best taken as referring to two idols (see 18:17-18), even though the verb at the end of v. 4, וַיְהִי (vayÿhi, “and it was [in the house of Micah]”), is singular.

[17:4]  ³ tn Heb “his mother.” The pronoun (“she”) has been substituted for the noun (“mother”) in the translation because of English style.

[17:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “and gave it.” The referent (the pieces of silver) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it was in Micah’s house.”