Genesis 49:2-4

Revised Standard Version

²Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob,
and hearken to Israel your father.

³Reuben, you are my first-born,
    my might, and the first fruits of my strength,
    pre-eminent in pride and pre-eminent in power.
⁴Unstable as water, you shall not have pre-eminence
    because you went up to your father’s bed;
    then you defiled it—you^[a] went up to my couch!

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Footnotes

Genesis 49:4 Gk Syr Tg: Heb he

Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.