Exodus 18:19–26

¹⁹Listen now to my voice; I will give you ⁸counsel, and God will be with you: Stand ^vbefore God for the people, so that you may ^wbring the difficulties to God. ²⁰And you shall ^xteach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and ^ythe work they must do. ²¹Moreover you shall select from all the people ^zable men, such as ^afear God, ^bmen of truth, ^chating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ²²And let them judge the people at all times. ^dThen it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for ^ethey will bear the burden with you. ²³If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their ^fplace in peace.”

²⁴So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵And ^gMoses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ²⁶So they judged the people at all times; the ^hhard ⁹cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.