Then the five men who had spied out the country around Laish said to their companions, "Do you know that in these houses there is an ephod, teraphim, and idols? What are we going to do about it? "
So they went to the house of Micah, where the young Levite was living, and they examined him. At that time 600 soldiers from the tribe of Dan stood in the gate.
The five spies entered the house and took the sacred objects while the priest stood at the gate with 600 armed soldiers.
When the people went into Micah's house and took away the sacred objects, the priest said, "What is this you have done?"
They said, "Be quiet! Be with us because we will make you a counselor and a priest. Would it not be better for you to have the whole house of Israel with you than with one house? "And the priest was pleased to take the holy things and went with them. And they returned, and their little ones, and their cattle, and all that went before them.
They were far from the house of Micah when Micah called his neighbors to war. They chased the members of Dan's family and shouted.
The men of Dan turned and said to Micah, "Why have you come in pursuit of us?"
He said, "You have taken away my priest and the idols I have made. You have fled and I have nothing left! Then you say what do you mean? "
And the children of Dan said unto him, Hold thy peace, lest our wrath be kindled against thee, and we destroy thee, and thy whole house. Then the tribe of Dan set out. Micah saw that he could not resist, so he went home.
The men of Dan brought the things that Micah and his priest had made. Then they went on and attacked Laish, a peaceful town in the Valley of Beth Rehob. They killed its inhabitants and burned the city.
No one helped them because the town was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with other people. Then the family of Dan rebuilt the city and settled there. And they called the name of it Dan, after the name of Jacob their son. The town was formerly called Laish.
They set up an image to worship. Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his descendants were priests of the tribe of Dan until the captivity of the people of Israel.
The image that Micah had made was still there, while the tabernacle of God was still in Shiloh.