Exodus 18:1-16 ▼

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 Israel's 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.