Éxodo 18

¹ And Jethro, the rabba of Midian, the father-in-law of Mosheh, had heard of all that the Lord had done for Mosheh and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Mizraim. ² And Jethro, Mosheh's father-in-law, took Zipporah the wife of Mosheh, after he had let her go, ³ and his two sons, the name of the one Gershom; For, he said, I have been a sojourner in a strange land; ⁴ and the name of the other Eliezer; For (said he) the God of my fathers hath been my helper, and hath delivered me from the sword of Pharoh. ⁵ And Jethro the father-in-law of Mosheh came, and his sons, and his wife, to Mosheh in the desert where he had encamped at the mountain upon which was revealed the glory of the Lord. ⁶ And he had told Mosheh, I, thy father-in-law Jethro, come to thee with thy wife, and her two sons with her. ⁷ And Mosheh went forth to meet his father-in-law, and bowed, and kissed him, and each saluted the other with peace; and they entered the tabernacle. ⁸ And Mosheh recounted to his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharoh and to Mizraim for Israel's sake; and all the tribulation that they had found upon the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹ And Jethro was glad over all the good which the Lord, who had saved him from the hand of Mizraim, had wrought for Israel. ¹⁰ And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Mizraee, and out of the hand of Pharoh, and hath delivered the people from under the domination of the Mizraee. ¹¹ Now know I that the Lord is great, and that there is no God but He for by the thing by which the Mizraee had thought to punish (judge) Israel, they themselves are punished. ¹² And Jethro the father-in-law of Mosheh offered a burnt offering and sacrificed holy things before the Lord. And Aharon came, with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with the father-in-law of Mosheh before the Lord. ¹³ And on the day after, Mosheh sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Mosheh from morn till evening; ¹⁴ and the father-in-law of Mosheh observed all that he did to the people. And he said, What thing is this that thou art doing to the people? Why dost thou sit alone, with all the people standing about thee from morn till evening? ¹⁵ And Mosheh said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to ask instruction from before the Lord. ¹⁶ When they have (a matter) for judgment they come to me, and I adjudicate between a man and his neighbour, and make them to know the statutes of the Lord, and His laws. ¹⁷ But the father-in-law of Mosheh said to him, The thing thou art doing is not right; ¹⁸ with weariness thou wilt be weary, thou and also this people who are with thee; for the thing is too weighty for thee, thou art not able to do it by thyself. ¹⁹ Now hearken to me, I will give thee counsel, and the Word of the Lord shall be thy helper. Be thou for the people the seeker of instruction from the presence of the Lord, to bring the matters before the Lord: ²⁰ and thou shalt admonish them in the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which to walk, and the work that must be done. ²¹ And thou, look out from the whole people men of ability who fear the Lord, men of truth who abhor to take mammon; and superappoint them chiefs of thousands, and chiefs of hundreds, and chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens. ²² And they shall judge the people at any time, and every great matter they shall bring to thee, but every small thing they shall judge; and they will lighten it from thee, and bear it with thee. ²³ If thou wilt do this, and the Lord teach thee, thou wilt be able to endure, and (of) all this people (every one) will go to his place in peace. ²⁴ And Mosheh hearkened to his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. ²⁵ And Mosheh chose men of ability from all Israel, and appointed them heads over the people; chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens; ²⁶ and they judged the people at all times; a weighty thing they brought to Mosheh, and every minor thing they judged themselves. ²⁷ And Mosheh sent his father-in-law away, and he went unto his land.