Exodus 17-18

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Water from the Rock

17 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.^{(A) 2} So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing^(B) the Lord?”

³ But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”^(C)

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”^(D)

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. ⁶ I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water^(E) will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah^[a] and Meribah^[b](F) because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Amalekites Attack

⁸ At Rephidim, Amalek^[c](G) came and fought against Israel. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua,^(H) “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.”

¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ While Moses held up his hand,^[d] Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand^[e] down, Amalek prevailed.^{(I) 12} When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. ¹³ So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army^[f] with the sword.

¹⁴ The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”^(J)

¹⁵ And Moses built an altar^(K) and named it, “The Lord Is My Banner.”^{[g] 16} He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward^[h] the Lord’s throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Jethro’s Visit

18 Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian,^(L) heard about everything that God had done for Moses and His people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

² Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah,^(M) Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, ³ along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”)^{[i](N) 4} and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword”).^[j]

⁵ Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses’ wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.^{(O) 6} He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷ So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down,^(P) and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been^[k] and went into the tent. ⁸ Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the Lord delivered them.^(Q)

⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the Lord had done for Israel when He rescued them from the power of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ “Praise the Lord,”^(R) Jethro exclaimed, “who rescued you from Pharaoh and the power of the Egyptians and snatched the people from the power of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods, because He did wonders when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”^[l](S)

¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in God’s presence.

¹³ The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening. ¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this thing you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵ Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶ Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”^(T)

¹⁷ “What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’ father-in-law said to him. ¹⁸ “You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone.^{(U) 19} Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to Him. ²⁰ Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do.^{(V) 21} But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating bribes.^(W) Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.^{(X) 22} They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every important case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load,^[m] and they will bear it with you.^{(Y) 23} If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”^[n]

²⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. ²⁵ So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ²⁶ They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves.

²⁷ Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law, and he journeyed to his own land.^(Z)