There was at that time a man of mount Ephraim whose name was Michas,

Fuit eo tempore vir quidam de monte Ephraim nomine Michas,

Now turn we to a man called Michas, who lived at this same time in the hill-country of Ephraim.

Who said to his mother: The eleven hundred pieces of silver, which thou hadst put aside for thyself, and concerning which thou didst swear in my hearing, behold I have, and they are with me. And she said to him: Blessed be my son by the Lord.

qui dixit matri suæ: Mille et centum argenteos, quos separaveras tibi, et super quibus me audiente juraveras, ecce ego habeo, et apud me sunt. Cui illa respondit: Benedictus filius meus Domino.

His mother had lost eleven hundred silver pieces, which she had set aside; and when, in his presence, she pronounced a curse on the thief, he told her, I have the money, I took it for myself. No curse, then, said she, but a blessing from the Lord on this son of mine.

So he restored them to his mother, who said to him: I have consecrated and vowed this silver to the Lord, that my son may receive it at my hand, and make a graven and a molten god, so now I deliver it to thee.

Reddidit ergo eos matri suæ, quæ dixerat ei: Consecravi et vovi hoc argentum Domino, ut de manu mea suscipiat filius meus, et faciat sculptile atque conflatile: et nunc trado illud tibi.

And she told him, as he gave it back to her, I solemnly dedicate this sum of money to the Lord, promising him that my son shall have it from me, to make himself a graven image, with a sheath of cast metal. So now after all it is thine.

And he restored them to his mother: and she took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, to make of them a graven and a molten god, which was in the house of Michas.

Reddidit igitur eos matri suæ: quæ tulit ducentos argenteos, et dedit eos argentario, ut faceret ex eis sculptile atque conflatile, quod fuit in domo Michæ.

Then she took out two hundred of the pieces so restored, and gave them to a silversmith, to be melted down into the sheath of a carved image; and there the image stood, in the house of Michas.

And he separated also therein a little temple for the god, and made an ephod, and theraphim, that is to say, a priestly garment, and idols: and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he became his priest.

Qui ædiculam quoque in ea deo separavit, et fecit ephod, et theraphim, id est, vestem sacerdotalem, et idola: implevitque unius filiorum suorum manum, et factus est ei sacerdos.

He set apart a shrine for the worship of God, furnished it with vestments and household deities and installed one of his sons as the priest of it.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every one did that which seemed right to himself.

In diebus illis non erat rex in Israël, sed unusquisque quod sibi rectum videbatur, hoc faciebat.

(This was in the old days of Israel before the monarchy, when men lived by the best light they had.)

There was also another young man of Bethlehem Juda, of the kindred thereof: and he was a Levite, and dwelt there.

Fuit quoque alter adolescens de Bethlehem Juda, ex cognatione ejus: eratque ipse Levites, et habitabat ibi.

But the lad was to have a rival, a young man from Bethlehem-Juda, ranking as one of Juda’s clan, but himself a Levite, come from other parts.

Now he went out from the city of Bethlehem, and desired to sojourn wheresoever he should find it convenient for him. And when he was come to mount Ephraim, as he was on his journey, and had turned aside a little into the house of Michas,

Egressusque de civitate Bethlehem, peregrinari voluit ubicumque sibi commodum reperisset. Cumque venisset in montem Ephraim, iter faciens, et declinasset parumper in domum Michæ,

And now he would leave Bethlehem and go on his travels to find a home that suited him. His journey took him to the hill-country of Ephraim, and there, for a while, he lodged at Michas’ house.

He was asked by him whence he came. And he answered: I am a Levite of Bethlehem Juda, and I am going to dwell where I can, and where I shall find a place to my advantage.

interrogatus est ab eo unde venisset. Qui respondit: Levita sum de Bethlehem Juda, et vado ut habitem ubi potuero, et utile mihi esse perspexero.

When he was asked whence he came, and told them he was a Levite from Bethlehem-Juda, looking for a home that suited him,

And Michas said: Stay with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee every year ten pieces of silver, and a double suit of apparel, and thy victuals.

Dixitque Michas: Mane apud me, et esto mihi parens ac sacerdos: daboque tibi per annos singulos decem argenteos, ac vestem duplicem, et quæ ad victum sunt necessaria.

Why, said Michas, live here with me, and I will honour thee like a father and a priest. Ten silver pieces thou shalt have each year, and a fresh suit of clothes, and thy livelihood.

He was content, and abode with the man, and was unto him as one of his sons.

Acquievit, et mansit apud hominem, fuitque illi quasi unus de filiis.

To this he agreed, and dwelt there with him, as well cared for as if he had been one of his sons;

And Michas filled his hand, and had the young man with him, for his priest, saying:

Implevitque Michas manum ejus, et habuit puerum sacerdotem apud se:

and Michas, when he installed the young man as priest in his household,

Now I know God will do me good, since I have a priest of the race of the Levites.

Nunc scio, dicens, quod benefaciet mihi Deus habenti Levitici generis sacerdotem.

flattered himself that God’s blessing would be with him, now that he had a priest by him of the Levite family.