Appointment of Minor Judges. ¹³ The next day Moses sat in judgment for the people, while they stood around him from morning until evening. ¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this business that you are conducting for the people? Why do you sit alone while all the people have to stand about you from morning till evening?” ¹⁵ Moses answered his father-in-law, “The people come to me to consult God. ¹⁶ Whenever they have a disagreement, they come to me to have me settle the matter between them and make known to them God’s statutes and instructions.”

¹⁷ “What you are doing is not wise,” Moses’ father-in-law replied. ¹⁸ “You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. The task is too heavy for you;^(A) you cannot do it alone. ^19 [a]Now, listen to me, and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. Act as the people’s representative before God, and bring their disputes to God. ²⁰ Enlighten them in regard to the statutes and instructions, showing them how they are to conduct themselves and what they are to do. ²¹ But you should also look among all the people for able and God-fearing men, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and set them over the people as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.^{(B) 22} Let these render decisions for the people in all routine cases. Every important case they should refer to you, but every lesser case they can settle themselves. Lighten your burden by letting them bear it with you! ²³ If you do this, and God so commands you,^[b] you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people, too, will go home content.”

²⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ He picked out able men from all Israel and put them in charge of the people as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²⁶ They rendered decisions for the people in all routine cases. The more difficult cases they referred to Moses, but all the lesser cases they settled themselves.

The Seventy Elders. ¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses: Assemble for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders and authorities among the people, and bring them to the tent of meeting. When they are in place beside you, ¹⁷ I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that is on you and will confer it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself.

¹⁸ To the people, however, you shall say: “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, when you shall have meat to eat. For in the hearing of the Lord you have cried, ‘If only we had meat for food! Oh, how well off we were in Egypt!’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat to eat, ¹⁹ and you will eat it, not for one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month—until it comes out of your very nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have rejected the Lord who is in your midst, and in his presence you have cried, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”

²¹ But Moses said, “The people around me include six hundred thousand soldiers; yet you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.’ ²² Can enough sheep and cattle be slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” ²³ The Lord answered Moses: Is this beyond the Lord’s reach? You shall see now whether or not what I have said to you takes place.

The Spirit on the Elders. ²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. Gathering seventy elders of the people, he had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ The Lord then came down in the cloud and spoke to him. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied^[a] but did not continue.

²⁶ Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in the camp, yet the spirit came to rest on them also. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ So, when a young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” ²⁸ Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “My lord, Moses, stop them.” ²⁹ But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of the Lord were prophets! If only the Lord would bestow his spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses retired to the camp, along with the elders of Israel.