When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.”
Parallel Translations
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When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.”
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When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.
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when they have a matter, it cometh unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbour, and I make them know the statutes of God, and His laws.'
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Exodus 18:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 24:14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”
- Deuteronomy 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it.
- Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.”
- 2 Samuel 15:3 Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the king to hear you.”
- 1 Corinthians 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
- Exodus 2:13 He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?”
- Exodus 23:7 “Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.
- Leviticus 24:15 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
- Numbers 15:35 Yahweh said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.”
- Numbers 27:6-11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his kinsman who is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it. This shall be a statute and ordinance for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’ ”
- Numbers 36:6-9 This is the thing which Yahweh commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them be married to whom they think best, only they shall marry into the family of the tribe of their father. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel move from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall all keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers. So shall no inheritance move from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall each keep his own inheritance.’ ”
- Deuteronomy 6:1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess;
- Deuteronomy 17:8-12 If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you. According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left. The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.
- 1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
- Job 31:13 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,
- Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Acts 18:14-15 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 18:16 When they have a matter, they come…
Exo 18:16 When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make [them] know the statutes of God, and his laws.
Ver. 16. When they have a matter.] In our ordinary suits there is, for the most part, more malice than matter. The late Judge Dier, if there came any such trifling controversies to be tried before him, would usually say, that either the parties are wilful, or their neighbours without charity; because their suits were not quietly compromised.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Do interpret and apply them to their several…
i.e. Do interpret and apply them to their several cases and circumstances.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Moses's father in law said unto him,.... Having…
And Moses's father in law said unto him,.... Having observed what he did, and heard his answer to the question he put to him:
the thing that thou doest is not good; not meaning that it was not morally good, or that it was morally evil; for it was certainly a good thing to inquire of the mind and will of God for the people, and to hear and decide matters in controversy between them, and do justice to both parties; but it was not good for the health of Moses; it was not commodious and convenient for him; it was not for his bodily welfare; it was too much for him, as he explains himself in the next verse.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I judge between one and another - And if…
I judge between one and another - And if the people were as quarrelsome one with another as they were with God, he had many causes brought before him, and the more because their trials put them to no expence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. I do make them know the statutes…
Verse 16. I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.] These words are so very particular that they leave little room for doubt that the law had been given. Such words would scarcely have been used had not the statutes and laws been then in existence. And this is one of the proofs that the transaction mentioned here stands out of its due chronological order; See Clarke on Ex 18:5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 18:16-17. I judge between one another — And…
Exo 18:16-17. I judge between one another — And if the people were as quarrelsome one with another as they were with God, he had many causes brought before him, and the more because their trials put them to no expense. Not good — Not convenient either for thee or them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain
CHAPTER XVIII.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. A matter — A matter of controversy requiring…
16. A matter — A matter of controversy requiring the intervention of a judge.
I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws — The statutes and laws (torahs) are not naturally understood of such enactments and “judgments” as Moses is commanded, in Exo_21:1, to set before the people. As matters of dispute arose, the judgments sought of Moses afforded him a most fitting opportunity to communicate to the people such statutes and laws as many of those recorded in chaps. 21 and 22. The people observed that Jehovah talked from heaven with their great leader, (Exo_20:18-22,) and would thenceforth accept his word as a God-given oracle. Compare Exo_18:15. The way in which Moses in this verse speaks of his judging the people, and making them know the laws, implies something that had already become habitual with him — a thing hardly supposable before their arrival at Sinai. This passage also suggests how Moses may have orally set forth many statutes and ordinances both before and after he had written them in a book.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. a matter] i.e. a matter in dispute, cf.…
16. a matter] i.e. a matter in dispute, cf. Exo_22:9, Exo_24:14. So vv. 22, 26 (‘cause’ in vv. 19, 26, is also the same Heb.: lit. word).
the statutes of God and his directions] ‘ “Statutes” (ḥuḳḳîm) were definite rules, stereotyped and permanent; “laws” (tôrôth) were “directions” or pronouncements delivered as special circumstances required them [see p. 161]. The present passage must belong to the period after Moses received the divine statutes on the mountain [cf. p. 162]’ (McNeile). Observe that the decisions of Moses on civil disputes are here called distinctly the ‘directions (tôrôth) of God’ (cf. on v. 15, and pp. 161, 162).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I judge and I do make them know the…
I judge and I do make them know the statutes of God. As the Israelites were, up to this time, without any code of written laws, Moses took the opportunity furnished by such cases as came before him, to lay down principles of law, and enjoin them upon the people; thus making them to know the statutes of God and his eternal unwritten laws. Such a practice would not have been necessary after the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; and its existence at the time of Jethro"s visit helps to fix that visit as occurring before the giving of the law.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.