Genesis 49:1-7 ▼

1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves [around me] that I may tell you what will happen to you and your descendants in the days to come.

2 “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel (Jacob) your father.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might, the beginning of my strength and vigor, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power [that should have been your birthright].

4 “But unstable and reckless and boiling over like water [in sinful lust], you shall not excel or have the preeminence [of the firstborn], Because you went up to your father’s bed [with Bilhah]; You defiled it—he went up to my couch.

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers [equally headstrong, deceitful, vindictive, and cruel]; Their swords are weapons of violence and revenge.

6 “O my soul, do not come into their secret council; Let not my glory (honor) be united with their assembly [for I knew nothing of their plot]; Because in their anger they killed men [an honored man, Shechem, and the Shechemites], And in their self-will they lamed oxen.

7 “Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide and disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in [the midst of the land of] Israel.