Exodus 18

¹And Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, that the Lord had brought Israel out from Egypt.

²And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after she had been sent back.

³And her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom, for he said: I have been a sojourner in a foreign land;

⁴and the name of the other was Eliezer, for the God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

⁵And Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, came with his sons and his wife to Moses, into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mountain of God.

⁶And he said to Moses, 'I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons with her.'

⁷Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him, and they asked each man of his neighbor's welfare, and they came into the tent.

⁸And Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt on account of Israel, and all the hardship that had befallen them on the way, and how the Lord had rescued them.

⁹And Jethro rejoiced over all the good that the LORD had done for Israel, in that he had rescued him from the hand of Egypt.

¹⁰And Jethro said, 'Blessed be the Lord, who has rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of Pharaoh, who has rescued the people from under the hand of Egypt.'

¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, for in the very thing in which they acted presumptuously against them.

¹²And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses's father-in-law before God.

¹³And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

¹⁴When Moses's father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?"

¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God.'

¹⁶When they have a matter, they come to me and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and his instructions.

¹⁷Moses's father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good.

¹⁸You will surely wear out, both you and this people who are with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to do it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to my voice; I will advise you, and may God be with you. You be for the people before God, and you bring the matters to God.

²⁰You shall warn them concerning the statutes and the instructions, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.

²¹But you, look out from all the people able men, fearers of God, men of truth, haters of unjust gain, and set over them rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²²And they shall judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, and every small matter they shall judge themselves — so that it will be lightened from upon you, and they shall bear the burden with you.

²³If you do this thing and God commands you, then you will be able to endure, and also all this people will go to their place in peace.

²⁴And Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

²⁵And Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at all times; the hard matter they brought to Moses, and every small matter they judged themselves.

²⁷Moses sent his father-in-law away, and Jethro went off to his own land.