Genesis 49:2-4

The Voice

    Gather around and pay attention, you sons of Jacob.
        Listen carefully, my sons, to Israel, your father.

³     Reuben, you are my firstborn son,
        my power and the vigor of my youth,
        first in rank and first in power.
⁴     But you are out of control, like floodwaters; you have forfeited your place
        because you have lain with your father’s wife
        and defiled his bed—you climbed onto my couch!