¹And Jethro, the priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moses, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, that Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt.

²And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after her sending away,

³and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom, for he had said: I have become a sojourner in a foreign land,

⁴and the name of the other was Eliezer, for the God of my father was my help, and rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.

⁵And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mountain of God.

⁶And he said to Moses: I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, and your wife and her two sons with her.

⁷And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked after each other's wholeness, and went into the tent.

⁸And Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt on account of Israel, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how Yahweh had rescued them.

⁹And Jethro rejoiced over all the good that Yahweh had done for Israel, in that he had rescued it from the hand of Egypt.

¹⁰And Jethro said: Blessed be Yahweh, who has rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of Pharaoh, who has rescued the people from under the hand of Egypt.

¹¹Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods, for in the word in which they boiled over against them.

¹²And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat food with the father-in-law of Moses before the face of God.

¹³And it happened on the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening.

¹⁴And the father-in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people, and said: What is this word that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone, with all the people standing by you from morning until evening?

¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law: Because the people come to me to seek God.

¹⁶For when they have a word, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the statutes of God and his instructions.

¹⁷And the father-in-law of Moses said to him: The word that you are doing is not good.

¹⁸Surely you will wither, both you and also this people who are with you, for the word is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.

¹⁹Now listen to my voice; I will advise you, and may God be with you. You be for the people in front of God, and you bring the words to God.

²⁰And warn them of the statutes and the instructions, and make known to them the way they must walk in it and the work they must do.

²¹And you, look out from all the people for men of strength, those who fear God, men of stability, haters of unjust gain, and set over them officials of thousands, officials of hundreds, officials of fifties, and officials of tens.

²²And let them judge the people at every time; and it will be that every great word they bring to you, but every small word they themselves judge. So lighten it off you, and they will bear it with you.

²³If you do this word, and God commands you, then you will be able to stand, and also all this people will come to its place in wholeness.

²⁴And Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

²⁵And Moses chose men of strength from all Israel, and set them as heads over the people: officials of thousands, officials of hundreds, officials of fifties, and officials of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at every time; the hard word they would bring to Moses, and every small word they themselves judged.

²⁷And Moses sent off his father-in-law, and he went off to his land.