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Micah's idols
17 There was a man who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, ‘I know about the 1,100 pieces of silver that somebody took from you. You cursed the person who had robbed you and I heard you. Look! Here are the pieces of silver. I took them myself. But now I am giving them back to you.’
His mother said, ‘Thank you, my son. I pray that the Lord will bless you.’
3 When Micah gave the 1,100 pieces of silver back to his mother, she said, ‘I will now give this silver to the Lord. We will use it to make an image and a metal idol. In that way, I will give it back to you, my son.’
4 So Micah's mother took 200 pieces of silver. She gave them to a man who used silver to make things. He made an image and an idol for her. She put them in Micah's house.
5 Micah had a special room to worship his gods. He made an ephod and some more idols for it. He chose one of his sons to be a priest to serve his gods.
6 At that time, Israel had no king to rule over them. Everyone did what they thought was right.
Micah and the Levite
7 There was a young man who lived in Bethlehem, a town in Judah. He was a Levite. 8 He left Bethlehem to look for another place to live. As he travelled in the hill country of Ephraim, he arrived at Micah's house.
9 Micah asked him, ‘Where have you come from?’ The man replied, ‘I am a Levite who was living in Bethlehem in Judah. Now I am looking for a new place to live.’ 10 Micah said, ‘Stay here with me. You will be my advisor and my priest. I will pay you ten pieces of silver each year, as well as your clothes and food.’
11 So the Levite agreed to stay with Micah. He became like a son for Micah. 12 Micah gave the young man what he needed. The Levite became Micah's priest and he lived in Micah's home. 13 Then Micah said, ‘Now I know that the Lord will bless me, because I have this Levite as my own priest.’
Dan's tribe worship idols
18 At that time, Israel had no king to rule over them. The people of Dan's tribe were looking for some land where they could live. They had not yet taken the land that would be their home among Israel's tribes.[a] 2 So the men of Dan sent five soldiers from the clans of their tribe to explore the land. The leaders sent them out from Zorah and Eshtaol. They told them, ‘Go and find some land for us.’
The five men went into the hill country of Ephraim. They came to Micah's house and they stayed there for a night. 3 While they were at Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. So they went in and they asked him, ‘Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?’
4 He told them what Micah had done for him. He said, ‘He pays me to work for him as his priest.’ 5 So they said to him, ‘Please ask God if our journey will have a good result.’ 6 Micah's priest answered, ‘Yes, do not worry. The Lord will be with you on your journey.’
7 So the five men continued on their journey. They arrived at Laish. They saw that it was a safe place to live. The people of Laish were not afraid of any trouble. They lived in peace, like the Sidonians do. Their land gave them everything that they needed, so they were rich. They lived a long way from the Sidonians, and there were no other people who would help them.
8 The five men of Dan's tribe returned to Zorah and Eshtaol. Their relatives asked them, ‘What did you find?’ 9 They answered, ‘We should go now and attack them! We saw their land, and it is very good. Do not sit there and wait! Go quickly and take the land for yourselves. 10 When you attack, you will see that the people there think that they are safe. Their land is very big and it has everything that we need. God will surely give it to you.’
11 So 600 men of Dan's tribe prepared for the fight. They marched out from Zorah and Eshtaol with their weapons. 12 On their way, they made their camp at Kiriath-Jearim in Judah. That place on the west side of Kiriath-Jearim is still called Mahaneh Dan.[b] 13 From there they travelled through the hill country of Ephraim. They arrived at Micah's house.
14 The five men who had explored the land of Laish said to their relatives, ‘Do you know that in one of these houses there is an ephod, some small idols, an image and a metal idol. Think carefully and decide what to do.’ 15 So they went into Micah's house, where the young Levite was living. They said ‘hello’ to him. 16 The 600 men of Dan stood at the gate with their weapons. 17 The five men who had explored the land went inside. They took all the idols, the image and the priest's ephod. While they did that, the Levite priest was standing at the gate with the 600 soldiers.
18 When the priest saw that the five men were taking the things from the house, he asked them, ‘What are you doing?’ 19 They said to him, ‘Be quiet! Do not say a word. Come with us. You will be our advisor and our priest. That will be much better for you. You will serve a whole Israelite tribe, instead of only one man's family.’ 20 So the priest was happy. He joined the group of men from Dan's tribe. He took the ephod, the idols and the image with him.
21 They left Micah's house to continue their journey. They followed after their children, their animals and all their other things. 22 After they had travelled some way, Micah realized what had happened. He brought together his neighbours and they chased after the men of Dan. When they reached them, 23 they shouted to them. The men of Dan turned around and they said to Micah, ‘What is the problem? Why have you brought all these men?’
24 Micah replied, ‘You have taken away the gods that I made. You have also taken my priest. Now I have nothing left. You should not ask me, “What is the problem?” ’ 25 The men of Dan said to Micah, ‘Do not argue with us! If you say any more, some of our men may become very angry. They might attack you. You and your family might all die!’
26 Then the men of Dan continued on their journey. Micah realized that they were too strong for him. So he turned around and he went home.
27 The men of Dan took the idols that Micah had made, as well as his priest. Then they arrived at Laish. The people who lived there were not expecting any trouble. The soldiers of Dan attacked the people with their weapons and they killed them. They destroyed the city with fire. 28 No one came to rescue the people of Laish. The city was a long way from Sidon. They had no other friends to help them.
Laish was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites built the city again and they lived there. 29 They called the city Dan, because that was the name of their ancestor. He had been one of Israel's 12 sons. Before that, the city's name was Laish.
30 The people of Dan worshipped Micah's idol. Jonathan served as priest for the tribe of Dan. He was a descendant of Moses' son, Gershom. He and his descendants served there as priests until Israel's enemies took them away into exile. 31 They continued to worship Micah's idol in Dan all the time that God's special tent was in Shiloh.[c]
Jesus and Nicodemus
3 There was a Pharisee called Nicodemus. He was one of the Jewish leaders. 2 He came to speak with Jesus at night. He said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we know that God has sent you to us. We have seen the miracles that you are doing. Nobody could do these things unless God was with him.’ 3 Jesus replied, ‘I tell you this: Unless a person is born from above, they cannot understand the kingdom of God.’ 4 Nicodemus asked, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot return into his mother's body. He cannot be born a second time.’ 5 Jesus explained, ‘I tell you this: Unless a person is born by water and by God's Spirit, he cannot come into the kingdom of God. 6 People give birth to what is human. But God's Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 I said to you, “You must be born from above.” What I said should not surprise you. 8 When someone is born by God's Spirit, it is like the wind that blows. The wind blows wherever it chooses to blow. You can hear it. But you do not know where it came from or where it is going.’
9 Nicodemus asked, ‘How can this happen?’ 10 Jesus replied, ‘You are an important teacher of people in Israel. You ought to understand these things! 11 I tell you this: We speak about things that we know. We tell you about what we have seen. But even then, you people do not believe our message. 12 I have told you about things that happen in this world. And you do not believe me. But now I am telling you about things that happen in heaven. So I do not think that you will ever believe me about those things. 13 The Son of Man came down from heaven. Nobody else has gone up to heaven except him. 14 Long ago Moses lifted up the metal snake in the wilderness to save his people.[a] In the same way, people must lift up the Son of Man on a cross. 15 As a result, everyone who believes him will be able to live for ever with God. 16 God loved the people in the world so much that he gave his one and only Son to save them. As a result, everyone who believes in the Son will not die. Instead, they will live for ever with God.’
17 God did not send his Son into the world because he wanted to punish people. He sent his Son to save the people in the world from punishment. 18 God will not punish anyone who believes in his Son. But if people refuse to believe in the Son, God has already decided that he must punish them. They have not believed in God's one and only Son. 19 God's Son has brought light into the world. But some people did not love the light. They loved the dark instead. That was because they were doing evil things. That is why God has decided to punish those people. 20 Everyone who does evil things hates the light. A person like that will not come to the light because he is afraid. He does not want the bad things that he has done to show clearly. 21 But anyone who does what is true will come to the light. The light will show clearly that he has been doing what is right. Everyone can see that he has been obeying God.
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
10 You cause springs of water
to pour along the valleys.
Streams of water run between the hills.
11 They give water to all the wild animals.
Wild donkeys drink from them.
12 The birds make their homes beside the streams.
They sing from the branches of the trees.
13 You pour down rain on the mountains
from your home above the sky.
You cause many fruits to grow on the earth.
14 You give grass for farm animals to eat.
You give crops for people to plant.
In that way, people get food from the ground.
15 They grow grapes for wine,
which makes them happy.
They grow olive trees for oil,
which makes their faces shine.
They grow grain for bread,
which makes them strong.
16 The Lord's own trees receive plenty of rain.
They are the cedar trees
that he planted in Lebanon.
17 The birds make their nests there.
Storks live there in the fir trees.
18 The wild goats live high up in the mountains.
Rock badgers hide among the rocks.
19 You made the moon
to tell us the months and seasons.
The sun also knows the right time for sunset.
20 At night you make it dark,
so that the forest animals come out.
21 The lions roar
while they look for animals to kill.
They look for the food that God gives to them.
22 At sunrise, they go back to their homes,
and they lie down to rest.
23 During the day, people go out to work.
They work at their jobs until it is evening.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[c]
20 Even the neighbours of poor people do not like them.
But rich people have many friends.
21 It is a sin if you do not respect your neighbour.
But if you are kind to helpless people, God will bless you.
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