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Jethro, Moses' Father-in-law

¹ Now ^(C1)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 Moses' wife ^(C1)Zipporah, after he had sent her away from Egypt,³ along with her ^(C1)two sons, of whom one was named Gershom (stranger), for Moses said, "I have been ^(C2)a stranger in a foreign land."⁴ The other son was named ^(C1)Eliezer (my God is help), for Moses said, "^(C2)The God of my father was my help, and He rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh."

⁵ Then Jethro, his father-in-law, came with Moses' sons and his wife to join Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at ^(C1)the mountain of God that is, Mt. Sinai in Horeb.⁶ He sent a message to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons who are with her."⁷ So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and ^(C1)he bowed down in respect and ^(C2)kissed him. They ^(C3)asked each other about their well-being and went into the tent.⁸ Moses told his father-in-law about all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians ^(C1)for Israel's sake, and about all the ^(C2)hardship that had happened during the journey, and how ^(C3)the LORD had rescued them.⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all ^(C1)the good things the LORD had done to Israel, in that He had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians.¹⁰ Jethro said, "^(C1)Blessed be the LORD, who has rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who has rescued the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.¹¹ "Now I know that ^(C1)the LORD is ^(F1)greater than all gods; indeed, ^(C2)it was proven when they acted insolently toward Israel and the LORD showed Himself infinitely superior to all their gods."^12 (C1)Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses' father-in-law before God.

¹³ Now the next day Moses sat to judge the disputes the people had with one another, and the people stood around Moses from dawn to dusk.¹⁴ When Moses' father-in-law saw everything that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone as a judge with all the people standing around you from dawn to dusk?"¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me ^(C1)to ask about the will of God.¹⁶ "When they have a ^(C1)dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and I make known the statutes of God and His laws."

Jethro Counsels Moses

²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything that he had said.²⁵ Moses chose ^(C1)able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens from the highest to the lowest judicial levels.²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; they would bring ^(C1)the difficult cases to Moses, but every minor dispute they judged and decided themselves.²⁷ Then Moses ^(F1)(C1)said goodbye to his father-in-law, and Jethro went back to his own land (Midian).