Judges 18 The Danes seek an inheritance and take Lais

 Judges 18

The Danes seek an inheritance and take Lais

1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in the same days the tribe of the Danes sought an inheritance to live in; because until that day among the tribes of Israel he had not been fortunate enough to inherit

2 And the sons of Dan of their tribe sent five men from their borders, valiant men, from Zorah and Staol, to spy out and crawl the land; and they said to them, Go and crawl the land. And they came to Ephraim's mountain, to Mica's house, and spent the night there.

3 And when they were near Micah's house, they heard the voice of the young man, of the Levite; and they came over there and said to him, Who brought you here, what are you doing here, and what is it that you have here?

4 And he said to them, So and so has Micah done to me; for he has hired me, and I serve him as a priest.

5 Then they said to them, Now ask God, that we may know whether the way we lead will prosper.

6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace; the way you lead is before the Lord.

7 Then those five men went, and came to Lais; and they saw that the people in the midst of it were safe, according to the custom of the Sidonians, quiet and trusting; nor was there any possessor in the kingdom who would not shame anyone in that land for anything: they too were far from the Sidonians, and they had nothing to do with anyone.

8 Then they returned to their brothers, to Zorah and to Estaol: and their brothers said to him, What do you say?

9 And they said, Arise, and let us go up to them; because we have examined the land, and, behold, it is very good; will you be calm? do not be lazy in going to enter to possess the land.

10 When you get there, you will see a trusted people, and the land is wide in length; because God gave it to you; place where there is no lack of anything on earth.

11 Then six hundred men armed with war weapons departed from the tribe of the Danes, from Zorah and from Estaol.

12 And they went up and camped at Kiriath-Jearim in Judah; for what they called this place Maané-Dã, until today; behold, it is behind Quiriate-Jearim.

13 And from there they passed to the mountain of Ephraim; and came to Mica's house.