Judges 17:2

eleven hundredpieces of silver See on Judges 16:5.

and didst also speak it A paraphrase; lit. -and didst also say.…" The text of Judges 17:2-3 has suffered disturbance; the words of the speech are missing here; the sequence -and he restored … I will restore (Judges 17:3) … And he restored (Judges 17:4)" is unintelligible. Of the various corrections proposed the most satisfactory is that of Moore: -and thou didst utter a curse and didst also say in mine ears, I verily dedicate the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image [and a molten image]; behold, the silver is with me; I took it; now therefore I will restore it unto thee. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of the Lord. Judges 17:4. So he restored the silver unto his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver" etc. That is to say, when the mother of Micah discovered that the money had been stolen, she cursed the thief (never dreaming that her son was guilty), and further consecrated the money forthwith to Jehovah. Under dread of the curse, and fearing the consequences of sacrilege, Micah confessed the theft and restored the money. In the text as rearranged, the words -And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother" in Judges 17:3 have been struck out as a mistaken anticipation of Judges 17:4.

The curse was held to possess a living, potent efficacy (cf. Zechariah 5:3); it called upon the offender to come forward; and whoever heard it was bound to make it known, as we learn from the law in Leviticus 5:1, cf. Proverbs 29:24. To augment the curse in the present case the -money was solemnly consecrated to Jehovah; it became taboo, and the thief could not make use of it without incurring the Deity's retaliation. The curse could not be withdrawn, but it might be neutralized by a blessing.