The refrain here, like in Judges 17:6, signals a new episode in the development of the plot in the epilogue. This refrain makes it sound as though what will follow is independent of what preceded. But very shortly, this story will intersect with what has gone before, when the spies come into by Micah’s house on their way north (Judges 18:2–3).1 While Micah is worshipping and prospering in the hill country of Ephraim, the Danites are trying to find a place to live.
1 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them.