Bible Strands
Judges 17:10
“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.” So the Levite went in
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Micah speaks to a traveling Levite who has just identified himself as a native of Bethlehem in Judah seeking a place to settle.
The words — שְׁבָה (shevah) means "remain" or "stay," and לְאָב (le'av) literally translates as "into a father," indicating a position of household authority or provision.
The thread — The text records a direct exchange of silver and goods for religious service, paralleling the monetary arrangements surrounding John 12:6, while the reversal of human lineage into divine appointment is noted in Genesis 45:8.
Why it lands — The passage plainly documents Micah offering annual silver, clothing, and food to secure a Levite's service, asking the reader to note how material compensation is used to obtain spiritual authority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;
- John 12:6 Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.
- Genesis 45:8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
- Judges 17:11 and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.
- Judges 18:19 “Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?”
- 1 Samuel 2:36 And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”
- 2 Kings 6:21 And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
- 2 Kings 8:8 So the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift in your hand, go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
- 2 Kings 13:14 When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
- Job 29:16 I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.