Deuteronomy 1:2-19

2It is eleven days’ journey from 1Horeb by way of Mount 2Seir to 3Kadesh-barnea. 3In the 4fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, 5in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare 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 in Edrei. 5Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Law, saying,

6“The Lord our God 11spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7Turn and set out on your journey, and go to 12the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in 13the 14Negev, 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 take possession of the land which the Lord 15swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their 16descendants after them.’

9“And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘17I am not able to endure you alone. 10The Lord your God has 18multiplied 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 times more than you are, and bless you, 19just as He has 20promised you! 12How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife? 1321Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ 15So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and informed men, and 22appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, 23hundreds, 24fifties, and 25tens, and officers for your tribes.

16“Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and 26judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him. 1727You are not to 28show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are 29not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. 30The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18At that time 31I commanded you all the things that you were to do.

19“Then we set out from 32Horeb, and went through all that 33great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the 34hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to 35Kadesh-barnea.