Exodus 18 is the chapter where Moses’ father-in-law Jethro arrives at the Mountain of God, hears the full account of the Exodus, confesses that the LORD is greater than all gods - then watches Moses judge a nation alone from sunrise to sunset and delivers the counsel that shapes Israel’s governance for the wilderness p

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Lyrics

Now Jethro, 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 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, received Zipporah, Moses’ wife After he had sent her away

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife To Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped At the Mountain of God He said to Moses, I, your father-in-law Jethro, have come to you

With your wife and her two sons with her Moses went out to meet his father-in-law And bowed and kissed him They asked each other of their welfare and they came into the tent

Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done To Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake All the hardships that had come on them on the way

And how the LORD delivered them Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done In that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods

On the next day, Moses sat to judge the people And the people stood around Moses from the morning to the evening When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did to the people He said, what is this thing that you do for the people?

Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you From morning to evening? Moses said to his father-in-law Because the people come to me to enquire of God

When they have a matter, they come to me And I judge between a man and his neighbour And I make them know the statutes of God and his laws Moses’ father-in-law said to him, the thing that you do is not good

You will surely wear away, both you and this people that is with you For the thing is too heavy for you You are not able to perform it yourself alone Listen now to my voice, I will give you counsel

You represent the people before God and bring the causes to God You shall teach them the statutes and the laws And shall show them the way in which they must walk And the work that they must do

Moreover you shall provide out of all the people Able men which fear God, men of truth hating unjust gain And place such over them, to be rulers of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens Let them judge the people at all times

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Exodus 18 sung by Psalm Selah. The whole Bible, one chapter at a time.

Published 2026-05-22 · Last updated 2026-06-06
Written by Reid Wender, Editorial Director at Psalmody Press