Deuteronomy 1:9

9 And I said to you in that time, I may not alone sustain you, (And I said to you at that time, I cannot carry all of you by myself,)

Deuteronomy 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 1:9

And I spake unto you at that time
About that time; for it was after the rock in Horeb was smitten, and before they encamped at Mount Sinai, that Jethro gave the advice which Moses took, and proceeded on it, as here related; see ( Exodus 18:1-27 )

saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone;
to rule and govern them, judge and determine matters between them. Jethro suggested this to Moses, and he took the hint, and was conscious to himself that it was too much for him, and so declared it to the people, though it is not before recorded; see ( Exodus 18:18 ) .

Deuteronomy 1:9 In-Context

7 turn ye again, and come ye to the hill (country) of (the) Amorites, and to (the) other places that be next to it; and to the places of fields, and of hills, and to [the] lower places against the south, and beside the brink of the sea, to the land of Canaanites, and of Lebanon, till to the great flood Euphrates (unto the great Euphrates River).

8 Lo, he saith, I have given to you that land; enter ye, and have it in possession, on which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he should give that land to them, and to their seed after them.

9 And I said to you in that time, I may not alone sustain you, (And I said to you at that time, I cannot carry all of you by myself,)

10 for your Lord God hath multiplied you, and ye be full many today, as the stars of heaven; (for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and today, ye be as many as the stars in the heavens;)

11 (may) the Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you, as he spake (as he said he would do).