Person Old Testament
Jethro
Also known as Jether; Jethro =ESV, NIV, KJV, Reuel =ESV, KJV; Raguel =KJV
Jethro, also known as Reuel, was Moses' father-in-law and a priest of Midian. Mentioned in 11 verses across 2 books, first at Exodus 2:18.
Why it matters. Moses' father-in-law, priest of Midian
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Jethro
Jethro, also referred to as Reuel, was Moses' father-in-law and a priest of Midian. He is first mentioned in Exo.2.18, where his daughters tell him about Moses defending them at a well. Later, in Exo.3.1, Moses is described as tending Jethro's flock when he encounters the burning bush.
After the Exodus, Jethro visits Moses in the wilderness, bringing along Moses' wife Zipporah and their two sons (Exo.18.1-6). Jethro praises God for the Israelites' deliverance from Egypt (Exo.18.9-10) and offers sacrifices to God (Exo.18.12).
Observing Moses' heavy workload in judging the people, Jethro advises him to appoint capable men to share the burden (Exo.18.13-23). Moses follows this advice and bids farewell to Jethro, who returns to his own land (Exo.18.24-27). In Num.10.29, Moses invites Hobab, identified as Reuel's son, to join the Israelites on their journey, suggesting a continued relationship between Moses and Jethro's family.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 11 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.