5. Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying,
6. “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain.
7. Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all the places near there, in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, by the seashore, in the land of the Canaanites, and in Lebanon, as far as 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, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’”
9. I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone.
10. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the sky for multitude.
11. The Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!
12. How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife?
13. Take wise men of understanding and well known according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.”
14. You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.”
15. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.
16. I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him.
17. You shall not show partiality in judgement; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgement is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”
18. I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.