2. It is a journey of eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of the highlands of Seir.
3. In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to them,
4. after he had defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.
5. Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law:
6. The Lord, our God, said to us at Horeb: You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
7. Leave here and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions, the Arabah, the mountains, the Shephelah, the Negeb and the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon as far as the Great River, the Euphrates.
8. See, I have given that land over to you. Go now and possess the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.
9. At that time I said to you, “I am unable to carry you by myself.
10. The Lord, your God, has made you numerous, and now you are as numerous as the stars of the heavens.
11. May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times over, and bless you as he promised!
12. But how can I, by myself, bear the weight, the contentiousness of you?
13. Provide wise, discerning, and reputable persons for each of your tribes, that I may appoint them as your leaders.”
14. You answered me, “What you have proposed is good.”
15. So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable, and set them as leaders over you, commanders over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties and over tens, and other tribal officers.
16. I charged your judges at that time, “Listen to complaints among your relatives, and administer true justice to both parties even if one of them is a resident alien.
17. In rendering judgment, do not consider who a person is; give ear to the lowly and to the great alike, fearing no one, for the judgment is God’s. Any case that is too difficult for you bring to me and I will hear it.”