Laish, also called Leshem (Joshua 19:47), was a town in the upper Jordan valley whose people lived after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure, far from Sidon and with no dealings with anyone else (Judges 18:7). It is named in Isaiah’s oracle, where the daughter of Gallim is told to lift up her voice so it is heard unto Laish (Isaiah 10:30).
The tribe of Dan, which had not yet received its full inheritance among the tribes of Israel, sent men to find land to settle. They reported Laish as a people dwelling carelessly with no magistrate or deliverer. The Danites took the town, struck its inhabitants with the sword, and burned the city, then rebuilt it and renamed it Dan after their father (Judges 18:7; Judges 18:27-29). Joshua 19:47 records the same conquest, with the town called Leshem.