Exodus 17-18

Young's Literal Translation

17 And all the company of the sons of Israel journey from the wilderness of Sin, on their journeyings, by the command of Jehovah, and encamp in Rephidim, and there is no water for the people to drink;

² and the people strive with Moses, and say, `Give us water, and we drink.' And Moses saith to them, `What? -- ye strive with me, what? -- ye try Jehovah?'

³ and the people thirst there for water, and the people murmur against Moses, and say, `Why [is] this? -- thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to put us to death, also our sons and our cattle, with thirst.'

⁴ And Moses crieth to Jehovah, saying, `What do I to this people? yet a little, and they have stoned me.'

⁵ And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Pass over before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod with which thou hast smitten the River take in thy hand, and thou hast gone:

⁶ Lo, I am standing before thee there on the rock in Horeb, and thou hast smitten on the rock, and waters have come out from it, and the people have drunk.' And Moses doth so before the eyes of the elders of Israel,

⁷ and he calleth the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the `strife' of the sons of Israel, and because of their `trying' Jehovah, saying, `Is Jehovah in our midst or not?'

⁸ And Amalek cometh, and fighteth with Israel in Rephidim,

⁹ and Moses saith unto Joshua, `Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I am standing on the top of the hill, and the rod of God in my hand.'

¹⁰ And Joshua doth as Moses hath said to him, to fight with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, have gone up [to] the top of the height;

¹¹ and it hath come to pass, when Moses lifteth up his hand, that Israel hath been mighty, and when he letteth his hands rest, that Amalek hath been mighty.

¹² And the hands of Moses [are] heavy, and they take a stone, and set [it] under him, and he sitteth on it: and Aaron and Hur have taken hold on his hands, on this side one, and on that one, and his hands are stedfast till the going in of the sun;

¹³ and Joshua weakeneth Amalek and his people by the mouth of the sword.

¹⁴ And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Write this, a memorial in a Book, and set [it] in the ears of Joshua, that I do utterly wipe away the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens;'

¹⁵ and Moses buildeth an altar, and calleth its name Jehovah-Nissi,

¹⁶ and saith, `Because a hand [is] on the throne of Jah, war [is] to Jehovah with Amalek from generation -- generation.'

18 And Jethro priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moses, heareth all that God hath done for Moses, and for Israel his people, that Jehovah hath brought out Israel from Egypt,

² and Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, taketh Zipporah, wife of Moses, besides her parents,

³ and her two sons, of whom the name of the one [is] Gershom, for he said, `a sojourner I have been in a strange land:'

⁴ and the name of the other [is] Eliezer, for, `the God of my father [is] for my help, and doth deliver me from the sword of Pharaoh.'

⁵ And Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, cometh, and his sons, and his wife, unto Moses, unto the wilderness where he is encamping -- the mount of God;

⁶ and he saith unto Moses, `I, thy father-in-law, Jethro, am coming unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.'

⁷ And Moses goeth out to meet his father-in-law, and boweth himself, and kisseth him, and they ask one at another of welfare, and come into the tent;

⁸ and Moses recounteth to his father-in-law all that Jehovah hath done to Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians, on account of Israel, all the travail which hath found them in the way, and Jehovah doth deliver them.

⁹ And Jethro rejoiceth for all the good which Jehovah hath done to Israel, whom He hath delivered from the hand of the Egyptians;

¹⁰ and Jethro saith, `Blessed [is] Jehovah, who hath delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of Pharaoh -- who hath delivered this people from under the hand of the Egyptians;

¹¹ now I have known that Jehovah [is] greater than all the gods, for in the thing they have acted proudly -- [He is] above them!'

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

¹³ And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that Moses sitteth to judge the people, and the people stand before Moses, from the morning unto the evening;

¹⁴ and the father-in-law of Moses seeth all that he is doing to the people, and saith, `What [is] this thing which thou art doing to the people? wherefore art thou sitting by thyself, and all the people standing by thee from morning till evening?'

¹⁵ And Moses saith to his father-in-law, `Because the people come unto me to seek God;

¹⁶ when they have a matter, it hath come unto me, and I have judged between a man and his neighbour, and made known the statutes of God, and His laws.'

¹⁷ And the father-in-law of Moses saith unto him, `The thing which thou art doing [is] not good;

¹⁸ thou dost surely wear away, both thou, and this people which [is] with thee, for the thing is too heavy for thee, thou art not able to do it by thyself.

¹⁹ `Now, hearken to my voice, I counsel thee, and God is with thee: be thou for the people over-against God, and thou hast brought in the things unto God;

²⁰ and thou hast warned them [concerning] the statutes and the laws, and hast made known to them the way in which they go, and the work which they do.

²¹ `And thou -- thou dost provide out of all the people men of ability, fearing God, men of truth, hating dishonest gain, and hast placed [these] over them, heads of thousands, heads of hundreds, heads of fifties, and heads of tens,

²² and they have judged the people at all times; and it hath come to pass, every great matter they bring in unto thee, and every small matter they judge themselves; and lighten it from off thyself, and they have borne with thee.

²³ If thou dost this thing, and God hath commanded thee, then thou hast been able to stand, and all this people also goeth in unto its place in peace.'

²⁴ And Moses hearkeneth to the voice of his father-in-law, and doth all that he said,

²⁵ and Moses chooseth men of ability out of all Israel, and maketh them chiefs over the people, heads of thousands, heads of hundreds, heads of fifties, and heads of tens,

²⁶ and they have judged the people at all times; the hard matter they bring in unto Moses, and every small matter they judge themselves.

²⁷ And Moses sendeth his father-in-law away, and he goeth away unto his own land.