Judges 18:1-13

11In those days there was no king of Israel; and 2in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day 3an inheritance had not 4been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. 2So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, 5valiant men from 6Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” And they came to 7the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and stayed overnight there. 3When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” 4He said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me, and he has hired me and 8I have become his priest.” 5Then they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.” 6And the priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going 9has the Lord’s approval.”

7So the five men departed and came to 10Laish, and saw the people who were in it living in security, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting; for there was no 11oppressive ruler humiliating them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you say?” 9And they said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you 12sit still? Do not hesitate to go, to enter, to take possession of the land. 10When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people with a spacious land; for God has handed it over to you, 13a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”

11Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out. 12They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place 1415Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is 16west of Kiriath-jearim. 13And they passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.