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Thursday, July 10th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

Legacy Standard Bible

Exodus 2:18

Then they came to Reuel their father, and he said, "Why have you come back so soon today?"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Jethro;   Moses;   Reuel;   Zipporah;   Thompson Chain Reference - Jethro;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Cush;   Pharaoh;   Raguel;   Wells and Springs;   Zipporah;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Kenites;   Midian;   Moses;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Midianite;   Raguel;   Reuel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Hobab;   Reuel;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jethro;   Reuel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Exodus;   Hobab;   Jethro;   Moses;   Name, Names;   Reuel;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jethro ;   Midian, Midianites ;   Reuel ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jethro;   Midian;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Je'thro;   Reu'el;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Exodus, the;   On to Sinai;   On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Exodus, the Book of;   Jethro;   Moses;   Raguel (2);   Reuel;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hobab;   Jethro;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
When they came to Re`u'el, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"
King James Version
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?
Lexham English Bible
And they came to Reuel, their father, and he said, "Why have you come so quickly today?"
New Century Version
When they went back to their father Reuel, he asked them, "Why have you come home early today?"
New English Translation
So when they came home to their father Reuel, he asked, "Why have you come home so early today?"
Amplified Bible
When they came to Reuel (Jethro) their father, he said, "How is it that you have come back so soon today?"
New American Standard Bible
When they came to their father Reuel, he said, "Why have you come back so soon today?"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And whe they came to Reuel their father, he said, Howe are ye come so soone to day?
Contemporary English Version
When Jethro's daughters returned home, their father asked, "Why have you come back so early today?"
Complete Jewish Bible
When they came to Re‘u'el their father, he said, "How come you're back so soon today?"
Darby Translation
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, Why are ye come so soon to-day?
Easy-to-Read Version
Then they went back to their father, Reuel. He asked them, "Why have you come home early today?"
English Standard Version
When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, "How is it that you have come home so soon today?"
George Lamsa Translation
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said to them, How is it that you have watered the flock so soon today?
Good News Translation
When they returned to their father, he asked, "Why have you come back so early today?"
Christian Standard Bible®
When they returned to their father Reuel, he asked, “Why have you come back so quickly today?”
Literal Translation
And they came to their father Reuel; and he said, Why have you hurried to come today?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And whan they came to Reguel their father, he saide: How came ye so soone to daie?
American Standard Version
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?
Bible in Basic English
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come back so quickly today?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when they came to Raguel their father, he sayde: Howe came it to passe that ye are come so soone to day?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said: 'How is it that ye are come so soon to-day?'
King James Version (1611)
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you are come so soone to day?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they came to Raguel their father; and he said to them, Why have ye come so quickly to-day?
English Revised Version
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon today?
Berean Standard Bible
When the daughters returned to their father Reuel, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne thei hadden turned ayen to Jetro, her fadir, he seide to hem, Whi camen ye swiftliere than ye weren wont?
Young's Literal Translation
And they come in to Reuel their father, and he saith, `Wherefore have ye hastened to come in to-day?'
Update Bible Version
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come so soon today?
Webster's Bible Translation
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How [is it that] you are come so soon to day?
World English Bible
When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"
New King James Version
When they came to Reuel their father, he said, "How is it that you have come so soon today?"
New Living Translation
When the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, "Why are you back so soon today?"
New Life Bible
When they came to their father Reuel, he said, "Why have you returned so soon today?"
New Revised Standard
When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, "How is it that you have come back so soon today?"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then came they in unto Reuel their father, - and he said, Wherefore have ye so early come in to-day?
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when they returned to Raguel their father, he said to them: Why are ye come sooner than usual?
Revised Standard Version
When they came to their father Reu'el, he said, "How is it that you have come so soon today?"
THE MESSAGE
When they got home to their father, Reuel, he said, "That didn't take long. Why are you back so soon?"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When they came to Reuel their father, he said, "Why have you come back so soon today?"

Contextual Overview

16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to give water to their father's flock to drink. 17Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses rose up and saved them and gave water to their flock to drink. 18Then they came to Reuel their father, and he said, "Why have you come back so soon today?" 19So they said, "An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he actually even drew the water for us and gave water to the flock to drink." 20And he said to his daughters, "Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Call him so that he may eat bread." 21And Moses was willing to settle down with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. 22Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 3:1, Exodus 4:18, Exodus 18:1-12, Jethro, or, Jether, Numbers 19:20, Raguel

Reciprocal: Genesis 36:4 - Reuel Numbers 10:29 - General Judges 4:11 - Hobab John 9:12 - Where

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2:7
Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 2:12
Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
Genesis 2:13
And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Cush.
Genesis 3:12
And the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate."
Ruth 3:1
Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek a state of rest for you, that it may be well with you?
Proverbs 18:22
He who finds a wife finds a good thingAnd obtains favor from Yahweh.
1 Corinthians 7:36
But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let her marry.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when they came to Reuel their father,.... Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus s calls him. The Targum of Jonathan has it, their father's father; and so Aben Ezra says he was; and is the sense of others, induced thereto by Numbers 10:29, but it does not follow from thence: he said,

how is it that you are come so soon today? it being not only sooner than they were wont to come, but perhaps their business was done in so short a time; that it was marvellous to him that it could be done in it, so quick a dispatch had Moses made, and they through his assistance; and especially it might be more strange, if it was usual, as it seems it was, to be molested by the shepherds.

s Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Reuel - Or, as in Numbers 10:29, “Raguel.” The name means “friend of God.” It appears to have been not uncommon among Hebrews and Edomites; e. g. Genesis 36:4, Genesis 36:10. If Reuel be identified with Jethro, a point open to grave objection (see Exodus 3:1), then Reuel was his proper name, and Jether or Jethro, which means “excellency,” was his official designation.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 2:18. Reuel, their father — In Numbers 10:29 this person is called Raguel, but the Hebrew is the same in both places. The reason of this difference is that the ×¢ ain in רעואל is sometimes used merely as vowel, sometimes as g, ng, and gn, and this is occasioned by the difficulty of the sound, which scarcely any European organs can enunciate. As pronounced by the Arabs it strongly resembles the first effort made by the throat in gargling, or as Meninski says, Est vox vituli matrem vocantis, "It is like the sound made by a calf in seeking its dam." Raguel is the worst method of pronouncing it; Re-u-el, the first syllable strongly accented, is nearer to the true sound. A proper uniformity in pronouncing the same word wherever it may occur, either in the Old or New Testament, is greatly to be desired. The person in question appears to have several names. Here he is called Reuel; in Numbers 10:29, Raguel; in Exodus 3:1, Jethor; in Judges 4:11, Hobab; and in Judges 1:16 he is called קיני Keyni, which in Exodus 4:0 we translate Kenite. Some suppose that Re-u-el was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro. This is the most likely; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 3:1.


 
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