Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageMicah said to him, 'Come live with me. Be a father and a priest to me — I'll give you ten pieces of silver a year, a full set of clothes, and your meals.' And the Levite agreed to stay.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GMikhah said to him, 'Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a set of garments, and your keep.' And the Levi agreed to go in with him.
KJV
King James VersionAnd 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.
BSB
Berean Standard Bible“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
Footnotes
The title *'av* (אָב, "father") applied to a priest is unusual and revealing. In prophetic and priestly contexts, "father" denotes an authoritative spiritual guide and divine intermediary — a voice of oracle and oversight (cf. 2 Kings 6:21; 13:14, where kings address the prophet Elisha as "my father"). Micah does not merely want a ritual technician; he wants a personal spiritual patriarch, someone whose presence confers legitimacy and whose access to the divine is for hire. The annual wage of ten silver pieces plus clothing and food is a formal contractual arrangement — the Levite becomes a professional household priest. The tragedy is structural: a Levite designed by Torah to serve YHWH's people is reduced to serving one man's private religion. FOG retains the raw relational title; FOG Message captures the domestic settled arrangement.