¹ When Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses's 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's father-in-law, took Zipporah Moses's wife, after he had sent her back,

³ And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; (for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:)

⁴ And the name of the other was Eliezer; (for the God of my father, said he, was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:)

⁵ And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:

⁶ And he said to Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro have come to thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

⁷ And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him: and they asked each other of their welfare: and they came into the tent.

⁸ And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them.

⁹ And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

¹⁰ And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

¹¹ Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing in which they dealt proudly, he was above them.

¹² And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses's father-in-law before God.

¹³ And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning to the evening.

¹⁴ And when Moses's father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning to evening?

¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God:

¹⁶ When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between one and another, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

¹⁷ And Moses's father-in-law said to him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

¹⁸ Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

¹⁹ Hearken now to my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people toward God, that thou mayest bring the causes to God:

²⁰ And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.

²¹ Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

²² And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring to thee, but every small matter they shall judge: So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

²³ If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

²⁴ So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.

²⁵ And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

²⁶ And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

²⁷ And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

¹ It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

² that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose.

³ Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."

⁴ The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

⁵ Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

⁶ Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.

⁷ Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

⁸ But Noah found favor in Yahweh's eyes.

⁹ This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.

¹⁰ Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹ The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.

¹² God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

¹³ God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

¹⁴ Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.

¹⁵ This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

¹⁶ You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.

¹⁷ I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.

¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

¹⁹ Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

²⁰ Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.

²¹ Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them."

²² Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.