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Judges 17:2
ESV And he said to his mother, "The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by the Lord."
NIV said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it." Then his mother said, "The Lord bless you, my son!"
NASB And he said to his mother, 'The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse and also spoke it in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.' And his mother said, 'Blessed be my son by the Lord.'
CSB He said to his mother, "The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you place a curse on—here’s the silver. I took it." Then his mother said, "My son, may you be blessed by the Lord!"
NLT One day he said to his mother, 'I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.' 'The Lord bless you for admitting it,' his mother replied.
KJV And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son.
NKJV And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “ May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!”

What does Judges 17:2 mean?

The book of Judges has moved on from telling stories of deliverers sent from the Lord to save Israel (Judges 2:16–19). It concludes by telling heartbreaking stories of the lives of everyday Israelites. These people had moved closer to the ways of Canaan and further from the ways of Israel's God.

Micah—first described by his extended name, Mikāyehu—lives with his family in Ephraim (Judges 17:1). His story begins with a confession. An enormous amount of money was stolen from Micah's mother. He overhears her speaking a curse against the thief. Fearing that curse, he confesses that he stole the silver. Whatever his mother said in the curse went beyond speaking harshly. She likely made a request of some deity to harm whoever had taken so much from her.

This confession serves two purposes. First, Micah may want to make things right with his mother. Second, he believes her curse could really bring harm upon him. He wants her to reverse it, or cancel it somehow, by blessing him. Micah's mother shows mercy and forgiveness despite the nature of his theft. She immediately declares a blessing upon her son. She blesses Micah "by the Lord." In other circumstances, this might indicate deep commitment to the God of Israel. Unfortunately, it's just part of the family's pattern of misunderstanding—or rejecting—what the Lord really wants from His people.

In Exodus 20:1–17, God establishes his core ten rules for the people of Israel, known as the Ten Commandments. In just the first few verses of this chapter, this family accomplishes the tragically impressive feat of breaking most of these commandments. So far, Micah has already failed to honor his mother (Exodus 20:12) and stolen (Exodus 20:15) out of what was likely greed or covetousness (Exodus 20:17).
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