Water in the Rock

17 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel moved on from the Wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water so we may [have something to] drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you tempt the Lord and try His patience?” ³ But the people were thirsty for water; and the people murmured against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at ^[a]Horeb; there you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may [have something to] drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.^{(A) 7} He named the place [where this miracle occurred] Massah (test) and ^[b]Meribah (contention) because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the [patience of the] Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Amalek Fought

⁸ Then ^[c]Amalek [and his people] came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. ⁹ So Moses said to ^[d]Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek [and his people]. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses said, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and ^[e]Hur went up to the hilltop. ¹¹ Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand [due to fatigue], Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy and he grew tired. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so it was that his hands were steady until the sun set. ¹³ So Joshua overwhelmed and defeated ^[f]Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in the book as a memorial and ^[g]recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek [and his people] from under heaven.”^{(B) 15} And Moses built an altar and named it ^[h]The Lord Is My Banner; ¹⁶ saying, “The Lord has sworn [an oath]; the Lord will have war against [the people of] Amalek from generation to generation.”

Jethro, Moses’ Father-in-law

18 Now Jethro (Reuel), the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah, after he had sent her away [from Egypt], ³ along with her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom (stranger), for Moses said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” ⁴ The other [son] was named Eliezer (my God is help), for Moses said, “The God of my father was my help, and He rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

⁵ Then Jethro, his father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to [join] Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mountain of God [that is, Mt. Sinai in Horeb]. ⁶ He sent a message to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons [who are] with her.” ⁷ So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down [in respect] and kissed him. They asked each other about their well-being and went into the tent. ⁸ Moses told his father-in-law about all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and about all the hardship that had happened during the journey, and how the Lord had rescued them. ⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done to Israel, in that He had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who has rescued the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is ^[i]greater than all gods; indeed, it was proven when they acted insolently toward Israel [and the Lord showed Himself infinitely superior to all their gods].” ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and [other] sacrifices [to offer] to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

¹³ Now the next day Moses sat to judge [the disputes] the people [had with one another], and the people stood around Moses from dawn to dusk. ¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting alone [as a judge] with all the people standing around you from dawn to dusk?” ¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to ask [about the will] of God. ¹⁶ When they have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

Jethro Counsels Moses

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you [to bear]; you cannot do it alone. ¹⁹ Now listen to ^[j]me; ^[k]I will advise you, and may God be with you [to confirm my advice]. You shall represent the people before God. You shall bring their disputes and causes to Him. ²⁰ You shall teach them the decrees and laws. You shall show them the way they are to live and the work they are to do. ²¹ Furthermore, you shall select from all the people competent men who [reverently] fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; you shall place these over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. ²² They shall judge the people at all times; have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them judge every minor dispute themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you will do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure [the responsibility], and all these people will also go [back] to their tents in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything that he had said. ²⁵ Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens [from the highest to the lowest judicial levels]. ²⁶ And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but every minor dispute they judged and decided themselves. ²⁷ Then Moses ^[l]said goodbye to his father-in-law, and Jethro went back to his own land (Midian).