Bible Strands
Exodus 18:23
If you follow this advice and God so directs you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people can go home in peace.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jethro addresses Moses at the wilderness camp, proposing a judicial delegation system to prevent leadership burnout.
The words — The conditional particle אִם ('im) frames the proposal, while וְ/יָֽכָלְתָּ֖ (ve./ya.khal.Ta) specifies the ability to endure the workload.
The thread — The text directly responds to the exhaustion warning in Exodus 18:18 and anticipates the structural shift toward national leadership in 1 Samuel 8:6 and 1 Samuel 8:22.
Why it lands — The verse requires implementing shared authority and awaiting divine confirmation before undertaking overwhelming responsibilities.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Exodus 18:18 Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.
- 1 Samuel 8:6 But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 8:22 “Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Everyone must go back to his city.”
- Genesis 18:33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.
- Genesis 21:10 and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
- 2 Samuel 18:3 But the people pleaded, “You must not go out! For if we have to flee, they will not care about us. Even if half of us die, they will not care. But you are worth ten thousand of us. It is better now if you support us from the city.”
- Genesis 30:25 Now after Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so I can return to my homeland.
- 2 Samuel 19:39 So all the people crossed the Jordan, and then the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned home.
- 2 Samuel 21:17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”
- Acts 15:2 And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.