After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors ¹  gathered together and caught up with the Danites.

They stopped ¹  there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah), ²  and asked him how he was doing. ³ 

Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. ¹ 

When her master ¹  got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold.

From there they traveled through the Ephraimite hill country and arrived at Micah’s house.

So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. They washed their feet and had a meal. ¹ 

They were having a good time, ¹  when suddenly ²  some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, ³  surrounded the house and kept beating ⁴  on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” ⁵ 

When the men ¹  of Joseph attacked ²  Bethel, ³  the Lord was with them.

When the men of Joseph spied out Bethel (it used to be called Luz),

When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem ¹  heard the news, they went to the stronghold ²  of the temple of El-Berith. ³ 

Micah paid ¹  the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house.

But if not, may fire blaze from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! May fire also blaze from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelech!”

The Levite ¹  said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem ²  in Judah to the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. That’s where I’m from. I had business in Bethlehem in Judah, but now I’m heading home. ³  But no one has invited me into their home.

The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing!

The Amorites managed ¹  to remain in Har Heres, ²  Aijalon, and Shaalbim. Whenever the tribe of Joseph was strong militarily, ³  the Amorites were forced to do hard labor.

Gideon ¹  said to him, “But Lord, ²  how ³  can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” ⁴ 

Gideon used all this to make ¹  an ephod, ²  which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites ³  prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it ⁴  there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

They did not treat ¹  the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. ¹  He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, ² 

They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous ¹  men as his followers. ²