Exodus 18:9

Summary

Exodus 18:9 narrates Jethro's reaction upon hearing what Yehovah had done for Israel: he rejoiced over all the good that Yehovah had done for Israel, delivering it from the hand of Egypt. The verse is structured as a main clause followed by two relative clauses that expand on "the good."

Key words

• va-yichad ("and he rejoiced", H2302) — qal narrative form with the vav-consecutive, presenting Jethro's reaction as the next event in the story sequence.
• tovah ("good", H2896C) — feminine singular noun, definite (ha-tovah), functioning as the direct object of the relative clause that follows.
• asah ("he had done", H6213A) — qal perfect, marking a completed action prior to the moment of the narrative, referring to Yehovah's deeds toward Israel.
• hitzil ("he had delivered", H5337) — hiphil perfect, a causative stem expressing that Yehovah brought about Israel's rescue (not that Israel rescued itself).
• o ("him/it", H9033) — third person masculine singular suffix attached to hitzil, referring back to Yisra'el as a singular collective entity.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative vav attached to yichad ("he rejoiced"), placing Jethro's emotional response as the next link in the story chain. The object of his rejoicing is introduced by 'al ("on/over") followed by the construct phrase kol ha-tovah ("all the good"), itself further specified by a relative clause: asher asah YHWH le-Yisra'el ("which Yehovah had done for Israel"). A second relative clause, asher hitzilo mi-yad Mitzrayim ("whom he had delivered from the hand of Egypt"), reiterates the actor (Yehovah, implied) with a hiphil perfect verb carrying a causative sense — the deliverance is presented as something Yehovah brought about rather than something Israel achieved for itself. Notably, the pronominal suffix on hitzil is singular (-o, "him/it"), matching Yisra'el as a grammatically singular collective noun, even though the referent is a people.

Differences between versions

The LXX uses ἐξέστη ("he was amazed/astonished") where the Hebrew has yichad ("he rejoiced"), reflecting a different verb rather than a translation variant of the same root. The LXX also renders the pronouns referring to Israel in the plural (αὐτοῖς, "to them"; αὐτοὺς, "them") where the Hebrew text uses singular forms (le-Yisra'el, hitzilo) consistent with Israel as a collective singular noun. Additionally, the LXX adds καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς Φαραώ ("and from the hand of Pharaoh"), a phrase not present in the Hebrew text supplied, which reads only mi-yad Mitzrayim ("from the hand of Egypt"). The Vulgate's Lætatusque est ("he rejoiced") aligns with the Hebrew yichad rather than with the LXX's ἐξέστη, and preserves the singular pronoun eum ("him") corresponding to the Hebrew suffix -o.