Exodus 18
Exodus 18
1 And heard Jethro priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moses, all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, that Yehova had brought out Israel from Egypt. 2 And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah, wife of Moses, besides her parents 3 and her two sons, of whom the name of the one [was] Gershom, for he said, `'a sojourner I have been in a foreign land' 4 and the name of the other [was] Eliezer, 'for `the God of my father [is] for my help and does deliver me from the sword of Pharaoh'.
5 And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, came, and his sons and his wife, unto Moses, unto the wilderness where he was encamped - the mount of God. 6 And he said unto Moses, `'I, your father-in-law, Jethro, am coming unto thee and your wife and her two sons with her'. 7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed himself and kissed him. And they asked of one another of welfare and came into the tent.
8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that Yehova has done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on account of Israel; all the travail that had found them in the way and [how] Yehova delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good which Yehova had done to Israel, whom He had delivered from the hand of the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said, 'Blessed [is] Yehova who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh —who has delivered this people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I have known that Yehova [is] greater than all the gods, for in the thing they have acted proudly — [He is] above them!' 12 And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, took a burnt-offering and sacrificed [it] for God; and Aaron came in and all [the] elderly of Israel, to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses, before God.
13 And it came to pass on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from the morning to the evening. 14 And the father-in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people and said, 'What [is] this thing which you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone and all the people standing by you from morning until evening?' 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a matter, they come to me and I have judged between a man and another and made known the statutes of God and His laws'.
17 And the father-in-law of Moses said to him, 'The thing which you are doing [is] not good; 18 you surely wear away, both you and this people which [is] with you, for the thing is too burdensome for you. You are not able to perform this thing alone. 19 Now listen to my voice, I will counsel you and God is with you. Be for the people before God and you have brought in the matters to God; 20 and you have warned them [concerning] the statutes and the laws and have shown them the way in which they go and the work which they do.
21 You shall see from all the people men of ability, fearing God, men of truth, hating dishonest gain, and place [these] over them [for] heads of thousands, heads of hundreds, heads of fifties, and heads of tens. 22 And they will judge the people at all times. And it will be, every great matter they shall bring to you and every small matter they shall judge. and it will be easier for you, and they will bear [the burden] with you. 23 If you do this matter, and God commands you, then you [will] have been able to stand and also all this people will go to their place in peace'.
24 And Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he said. 25 And Moses chose men of ability out of all Israel and made them chiefs over the people; heads of thousands, heads of hundreds, heads of fifties and heads of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times; the hard matters they brought to Moses and they judged every small matter themselves. 27 And Moses let his father-in-law depart and he went away to his own land.
