OET-RV EXO Chapter 18

18 Now Yitro (Jethro), the priest at Midyan and Mosheh’s (Moses’) father-in-law, heard about everything that God had done for Mosheh and for his people the Israelis—that Yahweh had brought the Israelis out of Mitsrayim (Egypt). 2 (Yitro had been looking after Mosheh’s wife Tsiporah[ref] and their two sons after he had sent her back 3 along with their two sons.[ref] One was named ‘Gereshom’ (which sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘foreigner’) because Mosheh had said, “I’ve been a foreigner living in another country.” 4 Their other son’s name was ‘Eliezer’ (which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘God helps me’, because Mosheh had said, “God, who my father worshipped, has helped me and stopped the Mitsri (Egyptian) king Par’oh (Pharaoh) from killing me.”))

5 So now Mosheh’s father-in-law brought Mosheh’s wife and sons to the wilderness where the people were camping near the mountain of God. 6 He had sent a message ahead saying, “I, your father-in-law Yitro, am coming to you, as well as your wife and your two sons.” 7 So Mosheh went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him. They asked each other about their welfare, then they went into the tent, 8 and Mosheh related to his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Par’oh and to Mitsrayim on account of Yisrael (Israel), all the hardship that found them along the way, and about how Yahweh had rescued them. 9 Yitro was very happy to hear about all the good things that Yahweh had done for Yisrael when he had rescued them out from Mitsri control, 10 and he said, “Bless Yahweh, who rescued you from slavery in Mitsrayim, and from Par’oh’s power. 11 Now I can see that Yahweh is greater than all the other gods because of the this result after the Mitsrim (Egyptians) had acted proudly against you all.” 12 Then Mosheh’s father-in-law Yitro made a burnt offering as well as sacrifices to God, and Aharon (Aaron) and all of the Israeli elders came to eat bread with Mosheh’s father-in-law in God’s presence.

13 The following day, Mosheh (Moses) sat down to judge the people, and the people stood around him from morning until evening. 14 When his father-in-law noticed everything that he personally did for the people, he asked, “What’s this that you’re doing with the people? Why do you sit there alone, and all the people position themselves around you from morning until evening?”

15 ⇔“Because the people come to me to find out what God wants for them,” Mosheh replied to Yitro (Jethro). 16 “When a difficult situation comes up among them, someone comes to me and I make the judgement between a man and his neighbour. In addition, I help them understand the god’s statutes and laws.”

17 “It’s not a good idea what you’re doing,” said Yitro. 18 “You’re definitely on the road to wear yourself out, plus you’ll also wear out these people who are with you, because the responsibility is too heavy for you—you can’t just do it alone. 19 Now, listen to this: I’ll advise you and God will be with you. You be before God for the people, and you should bring their disputes to God yourself. 20 You should also teach them the statutes and the laws, and you should teach them the way they should live and the work that they should do. 21 But you yourself should search through all the people to find capable men who are godly and faithful, and not greedy for dishonest profit. Then appoint the best of them to be over a thousand households, and then others to be over groups of one hundred, fifty, and ten households. 22 They’ll be the ones to judge the people, except that every serious situation they’ll bring to you—they’ll judge every minor situation themselves. Yes, you must lighten this load off yourself, and they’ll share the load with you. 23 If you do that, and if God tells you to proceed, then you’ll be able to endure in the long term, plus all of these people standing around will be able to return to their tents peacefully.”

24 So Mosheh (Moses) took his father-in-law’s advice and implemented all of his suggestions. 25 He chose capable men from among all the Israelis, and he appointed them as heads over the people: leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens of households. 26 They became the ones who settled most disputes for the people. They brought the difficult cases to Mosheh, but they judged each minor situation themselves.

27 Then Mosheh bid farewell to Yitro (Jethro) and he returned to his own home.