Jethro Visits Moses

1 And Jethro, the chief of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard of all that the Lord had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah the wife of Moses, after he had sent her back, 3 and her two sons, the name of one of whom was Gershom; For, he said, I have been a stranger in a foreign land; 4 and the name of the other was Eliezer; For, he said, the God of my father was my helper, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 5 And Jethro the father-in-law of Moses came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the desert where he was camped, at the mountain on which the glory of the Lord was revealed. 6 And he had sent word to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her. 7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him, and each greeted the other with peace; and they went into the tent. 8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel's sake, and all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 And Jethro was glad about all the good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom He had saved from the hand of Egypt. 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, and has delivered the people from under the rule of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is great, and that there is no God but He;⁠a for by the very thing by which the Egyptians had thought to punish Israel, they themselves are punished. 12 And Jethro the father-in-law of Moses offered a burnt offering and holy sacrifices before the Lord. And Aaron came, with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses before the Lord.

The Appointment of Judges

13 And on the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening; 14 and the father-in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people. And he said, What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, with all the people standing around you from morning until evening? 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to seek instruction from the Lord's presence. 16 When they have a matter for judgment they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and make known to them the statutes of the Lord and His laws. 17 But the father-in-law of Moses said to him, What you are doing is not right; 18 you will surely wear yourself out, both you and this people who are with you; for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19 Now listen to me; I will give you advice, and the Memra of the Lord will be your helper. You be the one who seeks instruction from the Lord's presence for the people, and bring their matters before the Lord: 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do. 21 And you, look out from the whole people for capable men who fear the Lord, men of truth who hate taking mammon;⁠b and set them over them as chiefs of thousands, and chiefs of hundreds, and chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. 22 And they shall judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so they will make it lighter for you and bear it with you. 23 If you do this, and the Lord commands you, you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace. 24 And Moses listened to his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and made them heads over the people: chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens; 26 and they judged the people at all times; the difficult matters they brought to Moses, and every small matter they judged themselves. 27 And Moses sent his father-in-law away, and he went to his own land.