Exodus 18:23

If you do this thing, and God so commands you, ¹  then you will be able ²  to endure, ³  and all these people ⁴  will be able to go ⁵  home ⁶  satisfied.” ⁷ 

If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

"If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace."

If you follow this advice, and if God directs you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace."

If you handle the work this way, you'll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also."

If you do this, and God gives approval, then you will be able to go on without weariness, and all this people will go to their tents in peace.

If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace."

"If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace."

If you do this thing, and God so commands you, ¹  then you will be able ²  to endure, ³  and all these people ⁴  will be able to go ⁵  home ⁶  satisfied.” ⁷ 

¹ tn The form is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the same nuance as the preceding imperfect in the conditional clause.

² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive now appears in the apodosis of the conditional sentence – “if you do this…then you will be able.”

³ tn Heb “to stand.” B. Jacob (Exodus, 501) suggests that there might be a humorous side to this: “you could even do this standing up.”

⁴ tn Literally “this people.”

⁵ tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.

⁶ tn Heb “his place.”

⁷ tn Heb “in peace.”

sn See further T. D. Weinshall, “The Organizational Structure Proposed by Jethro to Moses (Ex. 18:17),” Public Administration in Israel and Abroad 12 (1972): 9-13; and H. Reviv, “The Traditions Concerning the Inception of the Legal System in Israel: Significance and Dating,” ZAW 94 (1982): 566-75.