Judges 18:1-7

The Tribe of Dan Finds an Inheritance

18:1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place ¹  to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel. ²  18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, ³  capable men ⁴  from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. ⁵  18:3 As they approached ⁶  Micah’s house, they recognized the accent ⁷  of the young Levite. So they stopped ⁸  there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁹  18:4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, ¹⁰  “He hired me and I became his priest.” 18:5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, ¹¹  so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” ¹²  18:6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. ¹³  The Lord will be with you on your mission.” ¹⁴ 

18:7 So the five men journeyed on ¹⁵  and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there ¹⁶  were living securely, like the Sidonians do, ¹⁷  undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. ¹⁸  They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ¹⁹ 

[18:1]  ¹ tn Heb “an inheritance.”

[18:1]  ² tn Heb “because there had not fallen to them by that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel an inheritance.”

[18:2]  ³ tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

[18:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

[18:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”

[18:3]  ⁶ tn Or “When they were near.”

[18:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “voice.” This probably means that “his speech was Judahite [i.e., southern] like their own, not Israelite [i.e., northern]” (R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 263).

[18:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[18:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”

[18:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “He said to them, ‘Such and such Micah has done for me.’” Though the statement is introduced and presented, at least in part, as a direct quotation (note especially “for me”), the phrase “such and such” appears to be the narrator’s condensed version of what the Levite really said.

[18:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Ask God.”

[18:5]  ¹² tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”

[18:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “in peace.”

[18:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “In front of the LORD is your way in which you are going.”

[18:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “went.”

[18:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

[18:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

[18:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

[18:7]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.” Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX and Symmachus read “Syria” here rather than the MT’s “men.” This reading presupposes a Hebrew Vorlage אֲרָם (’aram, “Aram,” i.e., Arameans) rather than the MT reading אָדָם (’adam). This reading is possibly to be preferred over the MT.