Deuteronomy 1:9-18

⁹“And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to endure you alone. ¹⁰The Lord your God has multiplied 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, just as He has promised you! ¹²How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife? ¹³Obtain 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 appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶“Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him. ¹⁷You are not to show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ ¹⁸At that time I commanded you all the things that you were to do.