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¹ AND Jethro, 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 the children of Israel out of Egypt;² Then Jethro, Moses father-in-law, took his daughter Zipporah, Moses wife, after he had sent her back,³ And her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershon; for he said, I have been an alien in a foreign land;⁴ And the name of the other was Eliezer; For the God of my fathers, said he, was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh;⁵ And Jethro, Moses father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he encamped at the mountain of God;⁶ And Moses was told, Behold, your father-in-law Jethro has come to you with your wife and your two sons accompanying him,

⁷ And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance and kissed him, and they asked each other of their welfare; and they went into the tent.⁸ And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israels sake, and all the travail that they had suffered on the journey, and how the LORD had delivered them.⁹ And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, because he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh.¹⁰ And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, for he has delivered his people from under the rule of the Egyptians.¹¹ Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; for despite the counsel which the Egyptians had devised against them, he triumphed over them.¹² And Jethro, Moses father-in-law, offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to the LORD; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before God.

¹³ And it came to pass the next day that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood by Moses from morning to evening.¹⁴ And when Moses father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said to him, What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit in judgment all alone, and all the people stand by you from morning to evening?¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God;¹⁶ And when they have a controversy, they come to me; and I judge between one and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.¹⁷ And Moses father-in-law said to him, The thing that you are doing is not good.¹⁸ You will surely wear yourself out, both you, and all this people that is with you; for this thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to do it alone.¹⁹ Listen now to my voice, I will give you counsel, and God shall be with you; you must become a teacher from God to the people, to bring their disputes before God;²⁰ And you shall warn them to keep the ordinances and laws that you may show them how to conduct themselves and the works that they must do.²¹ Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men who fear God, truthful men who hate bribes and deceit; and appoint such over them to be officers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.²² Let them judge the people at all times; and when they have an important matter, let them come to you; but every small matter they shall judge for themselves; so it shall be easier for you, and they shall bear the burden with you.²³ If you shall do this thing, and God commands you so, then you shall be able to endure, and all this people shall also go each one to his own house in peace.²⁴ So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had told him.²⁵ And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and appointed them officers over the people, officers 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 judged themselves.²⁷ Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went to his own land.