Judges 18:19

And they say to him, “Keep silent, lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be for a father and for a priest to us: is it better your being a priest for the house of one man, or your being priest for a tribe and for a family in Israel?”

Literal Standard Version

In The King James Version

And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

In Context

18indeed, these have entered the house of Micah, and take the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest says to them, “What are you doing?”

20And the heart of the priest is glad, and he takes the ephod, and the teraphim, and the carved image, and goes into the midst of the people,

Read all of Judges 18

Cross References

Judges 17:10And Micah says to him, “Dwell with me, and be for a father and for a priest to me, and I give ten pieces of silver to you for the days, and a suit of garments, and your sustenance”; and the Levite goes [in].

2 Kings 8:8And the king says to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and you have sought YHWH by him, saying, Do I revive from this sickness?”

Job 21:5Turn to me, and be astonished, || And put hand to mouth.

Job 40:4“Behold, I have been vile, || What do I return to You? I have placed my hand on my mouth.

Micah 7:16Nations see, and they are ashamed of all their might, || They lay a hand on the mouth, their ears are deaf.

Matthew Henry on Judges 18:15-27

Micah's Gods Stolen; Micah's Attempt to Recover His Idols. ( b. c. 1406.) 14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war,… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Judges 18:19