Exodus 18:7–16

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.

¹³The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening. ¹⁴When Moses’s father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”^a