Exodus 2:18 NLT - 18 When the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, “Why are you back so soon today?”
Exodus 3:1 NLT - One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro,[a] the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai,[b] the mountain of God.
*The NLT gives the note here that Moses’ father in law goes by two names, Jethro and Reuel.
Judges 4:11 NLT - 11 Now Heber the Kenite, a descendant of Moses’ brother-in-law[a] Hobab, had moved away from the other members of his tribe and pitched his tent by the oak of Zaanannim near Kedesh.
*The NLT gives the note here that “brother in law” could also mean “father in law.”
It seems like Ruel and Jethro are the same person. Two names for the same person.
This last note in Judges 4:11 is most likely there because of how Hebrew was written.
Transliterated… The Hebrew for "father-in-law": ḥōṯēn.
The Hebrew for "brother-in-law": ḥāṯān.
In the original Hebrews manuscripts, the vowels were not there making both words identical. HTN. When the scribes added vowels at a later date they may have added the wrong markings in a scribal error.
This discrepancy is seen in the KJV/NKJV versions (The byzantine texts) (confuses brother in law and father in law) and many of the other translations like NIV/NLT/ etc. (based on the Alexandrian texts) (calls Hobab the brother in law).