Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clearImportance=normal (All still tentative.)
OET (OET-RV)“You’re definitely on the road to wear yourself out, plus you’ll also wear out these people who’re with you, because the responsibility is too heavy for you—you can’t just do it alone.
Key: khaki:verbs, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrLXXΦθορᾷ καταφθαρήσῃ ἀνυπομονήτῳ καὶ σὺ, καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, ὅς ἐστι μετὰ σοῦ· βαρύ σοι τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο· οὐ δυνήσῃ ποιεῖν σὺ μόνος. (Fthora kataftharaʸsaʸ anupomonaʸtōi kai su, kai pas ho laos houtos, hos esti meta sou; baru soi to ɽaʸma touto; ou dunaʸsaʸ poiein su monos. )
BrTrthou wilt wear away with intolerable weariness, both thou and all this people which is with thee: this thing is hard, thou wilt not be able to endure it thyself alone.
ULTYou will certainly wear yourself out, both you and also these people who are with you, because the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.
USTYou and these people will wear yourselves out! This work is too much for you. You are not able to do it by yourself.
BSBSurely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.
WEBBEYou will surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone.
NETYou will surely wear out, both you and these people who are with you, for this is too heavy a burden for you; you are not able to do it by yourself.
LSVyou surely wear away, both you, and this people which [is] with you, for the thing is too heavy for you, you are not able to do it by yourself.
FBVYou, and these people who come to you, are all going to wear yourselves out, because the workload is far too heavy. You can't handle it alone.
T4TYou and these people will ◄wear yourselves out/become exhausted►! This work is too much for one person. You are not able to do it by yourself.
LEBSurely you will wear out, both you and this people who are with you, because the thing is too difficult[fn] for you. You are not able to do it alone.
JPSThou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee; for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
ASVThou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
DRAThou are spent with foolish labour, both thou and this people that is with thee: the business is above thy strength, thou alone canst not bear it.
YLTthou dost surely wear away, both thou, and this people which [is] with thee, for the thing is too heavy for thee, thou art not able to do it by thyself.
DrbyThou wilt be quite exhausted, both thou and this people that is with thee; for the thing is too heavy for thee: thou canst not perform it alone.
RVThou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
WbstrThou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
KJB-1769Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.[fn] (Thou wilt/will surely wear away, both thou/you, and this people that is with thee/you: for this thing is too heavy for thee/you; thou/you art not able to perform it thyself/yourself alone. )
KJB-1611[fn][fn]Thou wilt surely weare away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heauy for thee; thou art not able to performe it thy selfe alone. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above apart from footnotes)
BshpsThou both weryest thy selfe, and this people that is with thee: For this thing is of more wayght, then thou art able to perfourme thy selfe alone. (Thou both weryest thyself/yourself, and this people that is with thee/you: For this thing is of more wayght, then thou/you art able to perform thyself/yourself alone.)
GnvaThou both weariest thy selfe greatly, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heauie for thee: thou art not able to doe it thy selfe alone. (Thou both weariest thyself/yourself greatly, and this people that is with thee/you: for the thing is too heavy for thee/you: thou/you art not able to do it thyself/yourself alone. )
CvdlThou weeriest thy self, and the people that is with the. This busynesse is to sore for the, thou canst not perfourme it alone. (Thou weeriest thy/your self, and the people that is with them. This business is to sore for them, thou/you canst not perform it alone.)
Wyclthou art wastid with a fonned trauel, bothe thou and this puple which is with thee; the werk is a boue thi strengthis, thou aloone maist not suffre it. (thou art wastid with a fonned trauel, both thou/you and this people which is with thee/you; the work is a boue thy/your strengthis, thou/you alone maist not suffer it.)
LuthDu machest dich zu müde, dazu das Volk auch, das mit dir ist. Das Geschäft ist dir zu schwer, du kannst es allein nicht ausrichten. (You machest you/yourself to müde, in_addition the people also, the with you/to_you is. The Geschäft is you/to_you to schwer, you kannst it alone not ausrichten.)
ClVgStulto labore consumeris et tu, et populus iste qui tecum est: ultra vires tuas est negotium; solus illud non poteris sustinere. (Stulto labore consumeris and you, and populus this who tecum it_is: ultra vires tuas it_is negotium; solus illud not/no you_will_be_able_to sustinere. )
18:13-27 Jethro’s wise advice is a further example of God’s providence, although it was not given in a miraculous way. Jethro introduced Moses to a style of leadership that involved delegation of authority. It appears that Moses had been following an Egyptian style of leadership that was heavily hierarchical and based on circumstances. No Egyptian law code has yet been discovered. It appears that all authority flowed downward from the pharaoh, who ruled by fiat. Jethro proposed a structure of delegation that would make Moses’ life easier.
Jethro speaks of the hard work that Moses is doing as if it were a physical burden that Moses was carrying. If your readers would not understand what this image means in this context, you could use an equivalent metaphor from your culture. Alternatively, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “is too hard for you”
Like several other events recorded in Scripture, the Bible’s account of the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai includes an abundance of geographical references, yet it remains one of the most hotly debated topics among scholars, and numerous theories have been offered. The vast majority of geographical references provided in the story are disputed, including the place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the location of Mount Sinai (see Proposed Locations for Mount Sinai map), and the various stops along the Israelites’ journey. A few locations have been established with some degree of scholarly consensus, but even these are not without opposing viewpoints. Amidst this incredible diversity of opinion, however, a single verse provides one of the most helpful clues for weighing the merits of one viewpoint over another: “By the way of Mount Seir it takes eleven days to reach Kadesh-barnea from Horeb” (Deuteronomy 1:2). For those who assume the Bible’s account to be trustworthy, this verse appears to require the following for any theory to be considered viable: 1) Kadesh-barnea and Mount Sinai must have been located at a distance from each other that could reasonably have been expected to take eleven days for an entire nation of people with small children, flocks, equipment, and perhaps even elderly members to travel on foot; and 2) the pace established by this distance over eleven days should most likely be considered the typical pace for the Israelites as they traveled from place to place along the other parts of the journey. This two-pronged test clearly strains many of the theories put forth to this point, especially when one factors in the time references given for the start of the journey (Exodus 12:6; Numbers 33:3), the middle of the journey (Exodus 16:1; Numbers 33:8), and the end of the journey (Exodus 19:1). In short, the journey from Rameses to the Wilderness of Sin took 31 days, since it included the 15th day of the second month, and the rest of the journey took another 16 days, assuming they arrived at Mount Sinai on the 15th day (not the first day, etc.) of the third month. Along with these criteria, a theory’s overall congruence with other established geographical and archeological data should bolster its credibility over other proposals. Another consideration is the extreme similarity between the events at Rephidim (Exodus 17) and the events at Kadesh-barnea (Numbers 20:1-13; 27:12-14; Deuteronomy 32:51; Ezekiel 47:19; 48:28), raising the question of whether Rephidim (meaning “resting places”) is in fact Kadesh-barnea. With these things in mind, the map below proposes a route for the exodus that meets virtually all of these criteria. A careful analysis and explanation of all the elements of the map is far beyond the scope of this article, but a few key points should be noted. The term Red Sea, in addition to referring to what we now regard it, must have also applied to the interconnected lakes and marshlands that lay along what is now the Suez Canal. Also, the portion of the journey that passed through the wilderness for three days without water (Exodus 15:22; Numbers 33:8) may have been comprised of a partial first day, a full second day, and a partial third day, much like Jesus’ time in the tomb is reckoned as three days in Matthew 12:40. Most notably, Mount Sinai is placed on this map at Gebel Khashm et-Tarif, which is appropriately located near, but not in, Midian (Exodus 3:1; 18:5; Numbers 10:29-30). It is also located 89 miles from Kadesh-barnea (assuming Kadesh is at Tall al-Quderat), which establishes a reasonable pace of 7.6 miles (12.2 km) per day to travel between them in 11 days. This lines up well with several known sources of water along that route (e.g., `Ain Qedeis [Hazar-addar?], Tamilat Suwelima [Hor-haggiggad?], and the spring at Kuntillet al-Girafi [unknown ancient identification]). This general pace then synchronizes very well with the timetable and distances required by this map for the other parts of the journey. The distance from Rameses to the Wilderness of Sin (where it is located here) could be completed in under 26 days, leaving an acceptable buffer of about 5 days for the parting of the Red Sea and perhaps a slower pace through the Wilderness of Shur/Etham. The entire journey took about 60 days, and the journey from the Wilderness of Sin to Mount Sinai took about 29 days. This leaves an acceptable buffer of time to complete the rest of the journey (about 16 days of travel) with a very adequate two weeks of extra time for Jethro to visit Moses and the Israelites to do battle with the Amalekites (Exodus 17-18). It should be noted that this timetable generally assumes (but does not necessarily require) that travel continued on sabbath days, but Scripture does not make clear whether travel was prohibited as work prior to the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.
