Exodus 18 · Verse 21

Exodus 18:21

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:

Exodus 18:21, King James Version

Exodus 18:21 in other translations

BSB	Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
WEB	Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
ASV	Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
YLT	‘And thou--thou dost provide out of all the people men of ability, fearing God, men of truth, hating dishonest gain, and hast placed these over them, heads of thousands, heads of hundreds, heads of fifties, and heads of tens,
DARBY	But do thou provide among all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place them over them, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens,
BBE	But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;
Webster	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:

What does Exodus 18:21 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 18:13-26

13-26. on the morrow ... Moses sat to judge the people, &c.--We are here presented with a specimen of his daily morning occupations; and among the multifarious duties his divine legation imposed, it must be considered only a small portion of his official employments. He appears in this attitude as a type of Christ in His legislative and judicial characters. the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the…

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Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 21 Able men - Persons of wisdom, discernment, judgment, prudence, and fortitude; for who can be a ruler without these qualifications? Such as fear God - Who are truly religious, without which they will feel little concerned either for the bodies or souls of the people. Men of truth - Honest and true in their own hearts and lives; speaking the truth, and judging according to the truth. Hating covetousness - Doing all for God's sake, and love to man; laboring to promote the general good; never perverting judgment, or suppressing the testimonies of God, for the love of money or through a base, man-pleasing spirit, but expecting their reward from the mercy of God in the resurrection of the just. Rulers of thousands, etc. - Millenaries, centurions, quinquagenaries, and decurions; each of these, in all probability, dependent on that officer immediately above himself. So the decurion, or ruler over ten, if he found a matter too hard for him, brought it to the quinquagenary, or ruler of fifty; if, in the course of the exercise of his functions, he found a cause too complicated for him to decide on, he brought it to the centurion, or ruler over a hundred. In like manner the centurion brought his difficult case to the millenary, or ruler over a thousand; the case that was too hard for him to judge, he brought to Moses; and the case that was too hard for Moses, he brought immediately to God. It is likely that each of these classes had a court composed of its own members, in which causes were heard and tried. Some of the rabbins have supposed that there were 600 rulers of thousands, 6000 rulers of hundreds, 12,000 rulers of fifties and 60,000 rulers of tens; making in the whole 78,600 officers. But Josephus says (Antiq., lib. iii., chap. 4) that Moses, by the advice of Jethro, appointed rulers over myriads, and then over thousands; these he divided into five hundreds, and again into hundreds, and into fifties; and appointed rulers over each of these, who divided them into thirties, and at last into twenties and tens; that each of these companies had a chief, who took his name from the number of persons who were under his direction and government. Allowing what Josephus states to be correct, some have supposed that there could not have been less than 129,860 officers in the Israelitish camp. But such computations are either fanciful or absurd. That the people were divided into thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, we know, for the text states it, but we cannot tell precisely how many of such divisions there were, nor, consequently, the number of officers.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 18:13-27

Here is the great zeal and the toil of Moses as a magistrate. Having been employed to redeem Israel out of the house of bondage, he is a further type of Christ, that he is employed as a lawgiver and a judge among them. If the people were as quarrelsome one with another as they were with God, no doubt Moses had many causes brought before him. This business Moses was called to; it appears that he did it with great…

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Exodus 18:21 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְאַתָּ֣הve.'a.Tahand youH859

תֶחֱזֶ֣הte.che.Zehyou will provideH2372

מִכָּל\־mi.kolfrom allH3605

הָ֠עָםHa.'omthe peopleH5971

אַנְשֵׁי\־'an.shei-men ofH582

חַ֜יִלCha.yilabilityH2428

יִרְאֵ֧יyir.'Ei[those] fearingH3373

אֱלֹהִ֛ים'E.lo.Him<of> GodH430

אַנְשֵׁ֥י'an.Sheimen ofH582

אֱמֶ֖ת'e.MetfaithfulnessH571

שֹׂ֣נְאֵיSo.ne.'ei[who] hateH8130

בָ֑צַעVa.tza'<of> unjust gainH1215

וְשַׂמְתָּ֣ve.sam.Taand you will appointH7760

עֲלֵהֶ֗ם'a.le.Hemover themH5921

שָׂרֵ֤יsa.Reiofficials ofH8269

אֲלָפִים֙'a.la.FimthousandsH505

שָׂרֵ֣יsa.Reiofficials ofH8269

מֵא֔וֹתme.'othundredsH3967

שָׂרֵ֥יsa.Reiofficials ofH8269

חֲמִשִּׁ֖יםcha.mi.ShimfiftiesH2572

וְשָׂרֵ֥יve.sa.Reiand officials ofH8269

עֲשָׂרֹֽת\׃'a.sa.RottensH6235

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 18:21

Acts 6:3
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
2 Chronicles 19:5-10
And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts. Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem. …
Deuteronomy 1:13-17
Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. …
Deuteronomy 16:18-19
Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
2 Samuel 23:3
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
Ezekiel 22:12
In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.
1 Timothy 3:3
Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
Nehemiah 7:2
That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
2 Peter 2:14-15
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
Genesis 22:12
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Nehemiah 5:9
Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?
Jeremiah 5:1
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Moreover.
De 1:13-17; Ac 6:3
able men.
25; De 16:18; 1Ki 3:9-12; Pr 28:2
such as.
23:2-9; Ge 22:12; 42:18; 2Sa 23:3; 1Ki 18:3,12; 2Ch 19:5-10
Ne 5:9; 7:2; Ec 12:13; Lu 18:2,4
men.
Job 29:16; 31:13; Isa 16:5; 59:4,14,15; Jer 5:1; Eze 18:8; Zec 7:9
Zec 8:16
hating.
23:8; De 16:18,19; 1Sa 8:3; 12:3,4; Ps 26:9,10; Isa 33:15
Eze 22:12; Ac 20:33; 1Ti 3:3; 6:9-11; 2Pe 2:14,15
rulers of thousands.Whatever matter the {decarch,} or ruler over ten, could not decide, went to the {pentecontarch,} or ruler of fifty, and thence by degrees to the {hecatontarch,} or ruler over a hundred, to the {chiliarch,} or ruler over a thousand, to Moses, and at length to God himself. Each magistrate had the care or inspection of only ten men; the {decarch} superintended ten private characters; the {hecatontarch} ten {decarchs;} and the {chiliarch,} ten {hecatontarchs.}
Nu 10:4; De 1:15; Jos 22:14; 1Sa 8:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Exodus 18:20
And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
Exodus 18:21
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:
Exodus 18:22
And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

Read all of Exodus 18

Exodus 18:21 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Además inquiere tú de entre todo el pueblo varones de virtud, temerosos de Dios, varones de verdad, que aborrezcan la avaricia; y constituirás á éstos sobre ellos caporales sobre mil, sobre ciento, sobre cincuenta y sobre diez.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et choisis d’entre tout le peuple des hommes capables, craignant Dieu, des hommes de vérité, haïssant le gain déshonnête, et établis-les sur eux, chefs de milliers, chefs de centaines, chefs de cinquantaines, et chefs de dizaines;
German Elberfelder 1871	Du aber ersieh dir aus dem ganzen Volke tüchtige, gottesfürchtige Männer, Männer der Wahrheit, die den ungerechten Gewinn hassen, und setze sie über sie: Oberste über tausend, Oberste über hundert, Oberste über fünfzig und Oberste über zehn,
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Provide autem de omni plebe viros potentes, et timentes Deum, in quibus sit veritas, et qui oderint avaritiam, et constitue ex eis tribunos, et centuriones, et quinquagenarios, et decanos,