Exodus 18:13–26

¹³Now it happened the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening.

¹⁴And Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, so he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”

¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me ^ato inquire of God.

¹⁶“When they have a ^amatter, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

¹⁷And Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good.

¹⁸“^aYou will surely wear out, both yourself and ¹these people who are with you, for the ²task is too heavy for you; ^byou cannot do it alone.

¹⁹“Now listen to my voice: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. ¹You be the people’s representative before God, and you ^abring the matters to God;

^20athen warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make known to them ^bthe way in which they shall go and the work they shall do.

²¹“But you shall ¹select ^aexcellent men out of all the people, ^bthose who fear God, men of truth, those who ^chate greedy gain; and you shall place these men over them as leaders of thousands, ²of hundreds, ³of fifties, and ⁴of tens.

²²“And they will judge the people at all times. And it will be ^athat every major matter they will bring to you, but every minor matter they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and ^bthey will bear the burden with you.

²³“If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to ¹endure, and all ²these people also will go to ³their place in peace.”

²⁴So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

²⁵And Moses chose ^aexcellent men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, ¹of hundreds, ²of fifties, and ³of tens.

²⁶And they judged the people at all times; ^athe difficult matter they would bring to Moses, but every minor matter they themselves would judge.