Deuteronomy 1:9-15

9“I spoke to you at that time saying: ‘I am not able to bear the burden of you by myself.

10Adonai your God has multiplied you—and here you are today, like the stars of the heavens in number.

11“‘May Adonai, God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times as many as you are, and may He bless you just as He has promised you!

12How can I bear your load and burden and bickering by myself?

13Choose for yourselves wise and discerning men, well known to your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’

14“You answered me and said: ‘The thing you have said to do is good.’

15So I took the heads of your tribes, men who were wise and well known, and appointed them as heads over you—leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officials for your tribes.