^18:24Moses listened to⁶³ his father-in-law and did everything he had said. ^18:25Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ^18:26They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring⁶⁴ to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

^18:27Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way,⁶⁵ and so Jethro⁶⁶ went⁶⁷ to his own land.⁶⁸

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Footnotes

63 The idiom “listen to the voice of” means “obey, comply with, heed.”
64 This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.
65 The verb וַיְשַׁלַּח (vayshallakh) has the same root and same stem used in the passages calling for Pharaoh to “release” Israel. Here, in a peaceful and righteous relationship, Moses sent Jethro to his home.
66 Heb “he”; the referent (Jethro) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
67 The prepositional phrase included here Gesenius classifies as a pleonastic dativus ethicus to give special emphasis to the significance of the occurrence in question for a particular subject ( §119.s).
68 This chapter makes an excellent message on spiritual leadership of the people of God. Spiritually responsible people are to be selected to help in the work of the ministry (teaching, deciding cases, meeting needs), so that there will be peace, and so that leaders will not be exhausted. Probably capable people are more ready to do that than leaders are ready to relinquish control. But leaders have to be willing to take the risk, to entrust the task to others. Here Moses is the model of humility, receiving correction and counsel from Jethro. And Jethro is the ideal adviser, for he has no intention of remaining there to run the operation.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves.

Moses let his father-in-law go, and he journeyed to his own land.

NLTNew Living Translation

Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed his suggestions. He chose capable men from all over Israel and appointed them as leaders over the people. He put them in charge of groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. These men were always available to solve the people’s common disputes. They brought the major cases to Moses, but they took care of the smaller matters themselves.

Soon after this, Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law, who returned to his own land.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law, and he did all that he had said. And Moses chose men of ability from all Israel, and he appointed them as heads over the people, as commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, and commanders of tens. And they judged the people all the time; the difficult issues they would bring to Moses, and every minor issue they would judge themselves. And Moses let his father-in-law go, and he went to his land.

KJV 1900King James Version

So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

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