5. On the east side of Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
6. The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
7. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and to all the places nigh to it, in the plain, on the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea-side, to the land of the Canaanites, and to Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates.
8. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.
9. And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:
10. The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
11. (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)
12. How can I alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?
13. Take ye wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.
14. And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
15. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.
16. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
17. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.