Judges 18:2-10

18:2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives,¹ capable men² 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.³ 18:3 As they approached⁴ Micah’s house, they recognized the accent⁵ of the young Levite. So they stopped⁶ there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?”⁷ 18:4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying,⁸ “He hired me and I became his priest.” 18:5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us,⁹ so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.”¹⁰ 18:6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence.¹¹ The Lord will be with you on your mission.”¹²

18:7 So the five men journeyed on¹³ and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there¹⁴ were living securely, like the Sidonians do,¹⁵ undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way.¹⁶ They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.¹⁷ 18:8 When the Danites returned to their tribe¹⁸ in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen¹⁹ asked them, “How did it go?”²⁰ 18:9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them,²¹ for²² we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic,²³ but don’t hesitate²⁴ to invade and conquer²⁵ the land. 18:10 When you invade,²⁶ you will encounter²⁷ unsuspecting people. The land is wide!²⁸ God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!”²⁹

¹tn Heb “The Danites sent from their tribe five men, from their borders.”

²tn Heb “men, sons of strength.”

³tn Heb “They came to the Ephraimite hill country, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.”

⁴tn Or “When they were near.”

⁵tn 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).

⁶tn Heb “turned aside.”

⁷tn Heb “What [is there] to you here?”

⁸tn 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.

⁹tn Heb “Ask God.”

¹⁰tn Heb “so we can know if our way on which we are going will be successful.”

¹¹tn Heb “in peace.”

¹²tn Heb “In front of the LORD is your way in which you are going.”

¹³tn Or “went.”

¹⁴tn Heb “who were in its midst.”

¹⁵tn Heb “according to the custom of the Sidonians.”

¹⁶tn Heb “and there was no one humiliating anything in the land, one taking possession [by] force.”

¹⁷tc 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.

¹⁸tn Heb “They came to their brothers.”

¹⁹tn Heb “brothers.”

²⁰tn Heb “What you?”

²¹tn Heb “Arise, and let us go up against them.”

²²tc Codex Alexandrinus (A) of the LXX adds “we entered and walked around in the land as far as Laish and.”

²³tn Heb “But you are inactive.”

²⁴tn Or “be lazy.”

²⁵tn Heb “to go”; “to enter”; “to possess.”

²⁶tn Heb “When you enter.”

²⁷tn Heb “you will come to.”

²⁸tn Heb “broad of hands,” an idiom meaning “wide on both sides.”

²⁹tn Heb “a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”