Exodus 18:1–12

JETHRO’S VISIT

18Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian,^l heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for God’s people Israel when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt.

²Now Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah,^m Moses’s wife, after he had sent her back, ³along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom^D (because Moses had said, “I have been a resident alien in a foreign land”)^{n 4}and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword”).^E

⁵Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, along with Moses’s wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.^{o 6}He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down,^p and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been^F and went into the tent. ⁸Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the Lord rescued them.^q

⁹Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done for Israel when he rescued them from the power of the Egyptians. ¹⁰“Blessed be the Lord,”^r Jethro exclaimed, “who rescued you from the power of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh. He has rescued the people from under the power of Egypt! ¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”^Gs

¹²Then Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’s father-in-law in God’s presence.