Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)the Sons of Korah.

Jethro's Advice

18 ^(A)Jethro, ^(B)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. ² Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home, ³ along with her ^(C)two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (^(D)for he said, ^(E)“I have been a sojourner^[a] in a foreign land”), ⁴ and the name of the other, Eliezer^[b] (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). ⁵ Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the ^(F)mountain of God. ⁶ And when he sent word to Moses, “I,^[c] your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” ⁷ Moses ^(G)went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and ^(H)kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. ⁸ Then Moses told his father-in-law ^(I)all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹ And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰ Jethro said, ^(J)“Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that ^(K)the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they ^(L)dealt arrogantly with the people.”^{[d] 12} And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law ^(M)before God.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

^3 (A)I thank my God ^(B)in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ^5 (C)because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began ^(D)a good work in you ^(E)will bring it to completion at ^(F)the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you ^(G)in my heart, for you are all ^(H)partakers with me of grace,^[a] both ^(I)in my imprisonment and in ^(J)the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸ For ^(K)God is my witness, ^(L)how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹ And it is my prayer that ^(M)your love may abound more and more, ^(N)with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent, ^(O)and so be pure and blameless ^(P)for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled ^(Q)with the fruit of righteousness that comes ^(R)through Jesus Christ, ^(S)to the glory and praise of God.

The Advance of the Gospel

¹² I want you to know, brothers,^[b] that what has happened to me has really ^(T)served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard^[c] and ^(U)to all the rest that ^(V)my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold ^(W)to speak the word^[d] without fear.