¹When Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard everything that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people – that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt – ²Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, then took Zipporah Moses' wife back, after her being sent back, ³and her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom, because he had said, “I was a foreigner in a foreign land”, ⁴and the name of the other was Eliezer, because he had said, “The God of my father is present as my help, and he delivered me from Pharaoh's sword.” ⁵Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the desert where he was encamped at the mountain of God, ⁶and he said to Moses, “I, Jethro your father-in-law, have come to you, as have your wife and her two sons with her.” ⁷And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed and kissed him, and each asked how the other was, and they went to the tent. ⁸And Moses told his father-in-law everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for the sake of Israel, and all the hardship which they had met with on the way and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹And Jethro rejoiced at all the good which the Lord had done to Israel in delivering them from Egypt's grip. ¹⁰And Jethro said, “Blessed is the Lord, who delivered you from Egypt's grip and from Pharaoh's grip – who delivered the people from being in the grip of Egypt. ¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than any of the gods, for it is apparent in the matter where they acted insolently against them.” ¹²And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came, as did all the elders of Israel, to eat bread before God with Moses' father-in-law. ¹³And it came to pass on the next day that Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. ¹⁴And Moses' father-in-law saw everything that he was doing with the people, and he said, “What is this business that you are doing with the people? Why are you sitting on your own while all the people are standing opposite you from morning to evening?” ¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people have come to me to consult God. ¹⁶If they have an issue, they come to me and I judge between a man and his neighbour, and I make God's statutes and his laws known.” ¹⁷Then Moses' father-in-law said to him, “The thing you are doing isn't right. ¹⁸You will utterly exhaust yourself, both you and this people which is with you, for the procedure is too burdensome for you; you cannot do it on your own. ¹⁹So now listen to me. I will advise you, and may God be with you. Be in the service of the people yourself opposite God, and bring the cases to God, ²⁰and instruct them in the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way which they should go, and the things which they should do. ²¹But select from all the people men of valour, who fear God, men of truth who hate dishonest gain, and appoint over the people men in charge of a thousand, men in charge of a hundred, men in charge of fifty and men in charge of ten. ²²And they will judge the people all the time, and it will be the case that they will bring every major issue to you, but these men will judge every minor matter, and it will relieve you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³If you do this thing, and God so instructs you, you will be able to cope, and also all this people will be able to go to their place in peace.” ²⁴And Moses concurred with his father-in-law, and he did everything he said. ²⁵So Moses selected men of valour from the whole of Israel and appointed them as heads over the people: men in charge of a thousand, men in charge of a hundred, men in charge of fifty and men in charge of ten. ²⁶And they judged the people all the time, but they brought any difficult matter to Moses, whereas they judged every minor matter themselves. ²⁷Then Moses let his father-in-law go, and he went his way to his land.