Bible Strands
Judges 17:4
So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Micah returns the silver to his mother, who then commissions a silversmith to craft a graven image and molten idol for his household shrine. The words — וַתִּקַּח (va.ti.kach) translates as "and she took," marking the mother's active role in seizing the two hundred shekels to fund the idolatrous commission. The thread — The crafting of metal idols parallels the idol-making described in Isaiah 46:6 and Jeremiah 10:9, where silver and gold are weighed and fashioned by craftsmen into gods. Why it lands — The text records the mother’s verbal dedication in verse 3 being immediately subverted by her practical investment in a physical idol, demanding the reader observe how religious language can mask idolatrous action.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 46:6 They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
- Jeremiah 10:9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz—the work of a craftsman from the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothes are blue and purple, all fashioned by skilled workers.