Catholic Public Domain Version

Exodus 18:1-11 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

1. And when Jethro, the priest of Midian, the kinsman of Moses, had heard all that God had done for Moses, and for his people Israel, and that the Lord had led Israel away from Egypt,

2. he brought Zipporah, the wife of Moses, whom he was to return to him,

3. and her two sons, of whom one was called Gershom, (for his father said, "I have been a newcomer in a foreign land,")

4. and the other in truth was Eliezer, ("For the God of my father," he said, "is my helper, and has rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh.")

5. And so Jethro, the kinsman of Moses, with his sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert, where he was encamped next to the mountain of God.

6. And he sent word to Moses, saying: "I, Jethro, your kinsman, have come to you, with your wife, and your two sons with her."

7. And going out to meet his kinsman, he reverenced and kissed him. And they saluted each other with peaceful words. And when he had arrived at the tent,

8. Moses explained to his kinsman all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on behalf of Israel, and all the hardships which had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had freed them.

9. And Jethro was gladdened over all the good that the Lord had done for Israel, because he had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians.

10. And he said: "Blessed is the Lord, who has freed his people from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh; he has rescued his people from the hand of Egypt.

11. Now I know that the great Lord is above all gods. This is why they acted arrogantly against them."