15. So I took the leading men of your tribes who were wise and respected. I appointed them to have authority over you. I made them commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. I appointed them to be officials over the tribes.
16. Here is what I commanded your judges at that time. I said, "Listen to your people's cases when they argue with one another. Judge them fairly. It doesn't matter whether the case is between fellow Israelites or between an Israelite and an outsider.
17. When you judge them, treat everyone the same. Listen to those who are important and those who are not. Don't be afraid of any man. God is the highest judge. Bring me any case that is too hard for you. I'll listen to it."
18. At that time I told you everything you should do.
19. The Lord our God commanded us to start out from Mount Horeb. So we did. We went toward the hill country of the Amorites. We traveled all through the huge and terrible desert you saw. Finally, we reached Kadesh Barnea.
20. Then I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites. The Lord our God is giving it to us.
21. The Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take it. Do what the Lord says. He's the God of your people. Don't be afraid. Don't lose hope."
22. Then all of you came to me. You said, "Let's send some men ahead of us. They can check out the land for us and bring back a report. They can suggest to us which way to go. They can tell us about the towns we'll come to."
23. That seemed like a good idea to me. So I chose 12 of you. I picked one man from each tribe.
24. They left and went up into the hill country. There they came to the Valley of Eshcol. They checked it out.
25. They got some of the fruit of that land. They brought it down to us and gave us their report. They said, "The Lord our God is giving us a good land."
26. But you wouldn't go up. You refused to obey the command of the Lord your God.
27. You spoke against him in your tents. You said, "The Lord hates us. That's why he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites. He wanted to destroy us.
28. Where can we go? The men who checked out the land have made us lose hope. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large. They have walls that reach up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' "
29. Then I said to you, "Don't be terrified. Don't be afraid of them.
30. The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will fight for you. With your own eyes you saw how he fought for you in Egypt.