Genesis 49:1-7 ▼

1 Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.

2 “Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power.

4 But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer. For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch.

5 “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence.

6 May I never join in their meetings; may I never be a party to their plans. For in their anger they murdered men, and they crippled oxen just for sport.

7 A curse on their anger, for it is fierce; a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel. I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel.