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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Exodus 18 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/18.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/exodus/18-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Exodus 18</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/17.htm" title="Exodus 17">◄</a> Exodus 18 <a href="../exodus/19.htm" title="Exodus 19">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/exodus/18.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Jethro Visits Moses</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the <span class="name">Lord</span> had brought Israel out of Egypt.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for a foreigner there.">a</a></sup></span> for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”; <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>and the other was named Eliezer, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Eliezer means my God is helper.">b</a></sup></span> for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Moses told his father-in-law about everything the <span class="name">Lord</span> had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the <span class="name">Lord</span> had saved them.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the <span class="name">Lord</span> had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>He said, “Praise be to the <span class="name">Lord</span>, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Now I know that the <span class="name">Lord</span> is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/18-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">3</span> <span class="footnotebot"><i>Gershom</i> sounds like the Hebrew for <i>a foreigner there.</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">4</span> <span class="footnotebot"><i>Eliezer</i> means <i>my God is helper.</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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