And Jethro rejoiced means that “he was happy” (Good News Translation), or “delighted” (New Jerusalem Bible). For all the good, literally “over all the good,” means goodness, or good things, or good deeds. Which the LORD had done to Israel, literally “which Yahweh did for Israel,” refers to the events Moses had mentioned in verse 8. Again, the name Yahweh is in focus. In that he had delivered them uses the same word as verse 8. Out of the hand of the Egyptians means “from the power of the Egyptians” (Durham). New Jerusalem Bible has “from the clutches of the Egyptians.”

Good News Translation has reduced this verse to just eight words, but nothing seems to have been left out from the context. Contemporary English Version‘s model is slightly longer, including the phrase all the good, which is translated as “good news”: “Jethro was so pleased to hear this good news about what the LORD had done.” The translator will have to determine whether the repeated words and phrases in the Hebrew seem natural or unnatural in the receptor language.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .