Deuteronomy 1:9-18

Revised Standard Version

Appointment of Tribal Leaders

⁹ “At that time I said to you, ‘I am not able alone to bear you; ¹⁰ the Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! ¹² How can I bear alone the weight and burden of you and your strife? ¹³ Choose wise, understanding, and experienced men, according to your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ ¹⁴ And you answered me, ‘The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.’ ¹⁵ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers, throughout your tribes. ¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien that is with him. ¹⁷ You shall not be partial in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s; and the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ ¹⁸ And I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.