Exodus 18  Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

18 Now Jethro [Reuel], the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after Moses had sent her back [to her father],

³ And her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom [ expulsion, or a stranger there], for Moses said, I have been an alien in a strange land;

⁴ And the name of the other was Eliezer [God is help], for the God of my father, said Moses, was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

⁵ And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to the wilderness where he was encamped at the mount of God [Horeb, or Sinai].

⁶ And he said [in a message] to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am come to you and your wife and her two sons with her.

⁷ And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed in homage and kissed him; and each asked the other of his welfare and they came into the tent.

⁸ Moses told his father-in-law all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and all the hardships that had come upon them by the way and how the Lord delivered them.

⁹ Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness the Lord had done to Israel in that He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰ Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, Who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, Who has delivered the people [Israel] from under the hand of the Egyptians.

¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods. Yes, in the [very] thing in which they dealt proudly [He showed Himself infinitely superior to all their gods].

¹² And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices [to offer] to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

¹³ Next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.

¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?

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

¹⁶ When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws.

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

¹⁸ You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself.

¹⁹ Listen now to [me]; I will counsel you, and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God, bringing their cases and causes to Him,

²⁰ Teaching them the decrees and laws, showing them the way they must walk and the work they must do.

²¹ Moreover, you shall choose able men from all the people—God-fearing men of truth who hate unjust gain—and place them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, to be their rulers.

²² And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

²³ If you will do this, and God so commands you, you will be able to endure [the strain], and all these people also will go to their [tents] in peace.

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

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

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

²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.