Then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro 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 in the presence of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
- KJV And Jethro, Moses’ 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’ father in law before God.
- NKJV Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
- NASB Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
- NLT Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came out and joined him in a sacrificial meal in God’s presence.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jethro offered a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron and the elders ate with him before God. Worship and fellowship follow the confession of faith.
Overview
Jethro's sacrifices express worship to the God he has just confessed as supreme, and the shared meal before God signifies covenant fellowship. Aaron and the elders join in, uniting in communion around the Lord. This fellowship meal before God anticipates the table fellowship of God's people, ultimately fulfilled in communion through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Gen 31:54Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.
- Deut 12:7There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
- Exod 24:5Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.
- Exod 24:11But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.
- Job 1:5And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
- 1 Cor 10:18Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar?
- 2 Sam 9:7“Do not be afraid,” said David, “for surely I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
- Exod 2:20“So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”
- Deut 27:7There you are to sacrifice your peace offerings, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God.
- Lev 7:11–17Now this is the law of the peace offering that one may present to the LORD:
- Gen 4:4while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
- Gen 43:25Since the brothers had been told that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon.
- Luke 14:1One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely.
- Dan 10:3I ate no rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I did not anoint myself with oil until the three weeks were completed.
- Gen 12:7Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
- 1 Chr 29:21–22The next day they offered sacrifices and presented burnt offerings to the LORD: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, along with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.
- 2 Chr 30:22And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the LORD. For seven days they ate their assigned portion, sacrificing fellowship offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
- Gen 26:25So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.
- Gen 8:20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
- Job 42:11All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
- 1 Cor 10:21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.
- Luke 14:15When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
- 1 Cor 10:31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
- Job 42:8So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 18:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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