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Exodus 18

Jethro, Moses' Father-in-law

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Now  aJethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

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Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Moses' wife  aZipporah, after he had sent her away,

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and her  atwo sons, of whom  1one was named Gershom, for Moses said, "I have been  ba  2sojourner in a foreign land."

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 1The other was named  2 aEliezer, for he said,bThe God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh."

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Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses  1in the wilderness where he was camped, at  athe mount of God.

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He  1sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her."

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Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and  ahe bowed down and  bkissed him; and they  casked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.

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Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians  afor Israel's sake, all the  bhardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how  cthe LORD had delivered them.

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Jethro rejoiced over all  athe goodness which the LORD had done to Israel,  1in delivering  2them from the hand of the Egyptians.

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So Jethro said, " aBlessed be the LORD who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

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"Now I know that  athe LORD is greater than all the gods;  1indeed,  bit was proven when they dealt proudly against  2the people."

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 aThen Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat  1a meal with Moses' father-in-law before God.

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It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening.

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Now when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?"

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Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me  ato inquire of God.

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"When they have a  1 adispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws."

Jethro Counsels Moses

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Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good.

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aYou will surely wear out, both yourself and  1these people who are with you, for the  2task is too heavy for you;  byou cannot do it alone.

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"Now listen to  1me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you.  2You be the people's representative before God, and you  abring the  3disputes to God,

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 athen teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them  bthe way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do.

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"Furthermore, you shall  1select out of all the people  aable men  bwho fear God, men of truth, those who  chate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands,  2of hundreds,  2of fifties and  2of tens.

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"Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be  athat every major  1dispute they will bring to you, but every minor  1dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and  bthey will bear the burden with you.

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"If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to  1endure, and all  2these people also will go to  3their place in peace."

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So Moses listened  1to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

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Moses chose  aable men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands,  1of hundreds,  1of fifties and  1of tens.

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They judged the people at all times;  athe difficult  1dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor  1dispute they themselves would judge.

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Then Moses  1 abade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:22:53 2007)

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