Moses Establishes the Gerousia

For it is not fit that causes should be openly determined out of regard to gain or to the status of the suitors, but rather, the judges should esteem what is right before all other things. For otherwise God will by that means be despised and esteemed inferior to those the dread of whose power has resulted in unjust sentencing. For justice is the power of God. Therefore, he who favors those of high status supposes them more potent than God himself. But if these judges are unable to give a just sentence regarding the causes that come before them (which is not infrequent in human affairs), let them send the cause undetermined to the holy city, and there let the high priest, the prophet, and the Gerousia determine as it shall seem good to them.

Translated by William Whiston, adapted by Aaron Samuels.