Moses Appoints Leaders

⁹ At that time I said, “I am not able to ·take care of you [^Llift you up; bear you] by myself. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has made you grow in number so that there are as many of you as there are stars in the ·sky [heavens; Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 26:4; Ex. 32:13]. ¹¹ I pray that the Lord, the God of your ·ancestors [fathers], will give you a thousand times more people and ·do all the wonderful things [^Lbless you as] he promised. ¹² ·But I cannot take care of [^LHow can I lift up/bear…?] your problems, your troubles, and your arguments by myself. ¹³ So choose some men from each tribe—wise men who have ·understanding [discernment] and experience—and I will make them leaders over you.”

¹⁴ And you said, “That’s a good thing to do.”

¹⁵ So I took the wise and experienced leaders of your tribes, and I made them your leaders. I appointed commanders over a thousand people, over a hundred people, over fifty people, and over ten people and made them officers over your tribes. ¹⁶ Then I told your ·leaders [judges], “Listen to the arguments between your people. Judge fairly between two ·Israelites [relatives; ^Lbrothers] or between an ·Israelite [^Lrelative; brother] and a ·foreigner [resident alien]. ¹⁷ When you judge, ·be fair to everyone [do not show favoritism]; don’t act as if one person is more important than another, and don’t be ·afraid of [intimidated by] anyone, because your decision comes from God. Bring the hard cases to me, and I will judge them.” ¹⁸ At that time I told you everything you must do [Ex. 18:13–23].