Deuteronomy 1:2-19

2It is eleven days’ journey from 1Horeb by the way of Mount 2Seir to 3Kadesh-barnea. 3In the 4fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, 5according to all that the Lord had commanded him to give to them, 4after he had 67defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and 8Og the king of Bashan, who lived in 9Ashtaroth 10and Edrei. 5Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,

6“The Lord our God 11spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have 12stayed long enough at this mountain. 7Turn and set your journey, and go to 13the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in 14the 15Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord 16swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their 17descendants after them.’

9“I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘18I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. 10The Lord your God has 19multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are and bless you, 20just as He has 21promised you! 12How can I alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife? 132223Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14You answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and 24appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and 25of hundreds, 26of fifties and 27of tens, and officers for your tribes.

16“Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your 28fellow countrymen, and 29judge righteously between a man and his 30fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. 1731You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall 32not fear 33man, for the judgment is God’s. 34The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 1835I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

19“Then we set out from 36Horeb, and went through all that 37great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the 38hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to 39Kadesh-barnea.