Genesis 49:4

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Genesis 49:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible

2 Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

4 Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.

6 May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

James 1:6

But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

James 1:7

That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

James 1:8

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

2 Peter 2:14

Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

2 Peter 3:16

He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Genesis 46:8

Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

Numbers 32:1

Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.

Numbers 32:2

So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, and said,

Numbers 32:3

“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

Numbers 32:4

which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, are suitable for livestock—and your servants have livestock.”

Numbers 32:5

“If we have found favor in your sight,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

Numbers 32:6

But Moses asked the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?

Numbers 32:7

Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land that the LORD has given them?

Numbers 32:8

This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.

Numbers 32:9

For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the LORD had given them.

Numbers 32:10

So the anger of the LORD was kindled that day, and He swore an oath, saying,

Numbers 32:11

‘Because they did not follow Me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years of age or older who came out of Egypt will see the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—

Numbers 32:12

not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun—because they did follow the LORD wholeheartedly.’

Numbers 32:13

The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation who had done evil in His sight was gone.

Numbers 32:14

Now behold, you, a brood of sinners, have risen up in place of your fathers to further stoke the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.

Numbers 32:15

For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”

Numbers 32:16

Then the Gadites and Reubenites approached Moses and said, “We want to build sheepfolds here for our livestock and cities for our little ones.

Numbers 32:17

But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our little ones will remain in the fortified cities for protection from the inhabitants of the land.

Numbers 32:18

We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has taken possession of his inheritance.

Numbers 32:19

Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”

Numbers 32:20

Moses replied, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for battle,

Numbers 32:21

and if every one of your armed men crosses the Jordan before the LORD, until He has driven His enemies out before Him,

Numbers 32:22

then when the land is subdued before the LORD, you may return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will belong to you as a possession before the LORD.

Numbers 32:23

But if you do not do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD—and be assured that your sin will find you out.

Numbers 32:24

Build cities for your little ones and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

Numbers 32:25

The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do just as our lord commands.

Numbers 32:26

Our children, our wives, our livestock, and all our animals will remain here in the cities of Gilead.

Numbers 32:27

But your servants are equipped for war, and every man will cross over to the battle before the LORD, just as our lord says.”

Numbers 32:28

So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the family leaders of the tribes of Israel.

Numbers 32:29

And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, with every man armed for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

Numbers 32:30

But if they do not arm themselves and go across with you, then they must accept their possession among you in the land of Canaan.”

Numbers 32:31

The Gadites and Reubenites replied, “As the LORD has spoken to your servants, so we will do.

Numbers 32:32

We will cross over into the land of Canaan armed before the LORD, that we may have our inheritance on this side of the Jordan.”

Numbers 32:33

So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.

Numbers 32:34

And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

Numbers 32:35

Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

Numbers 32:36

Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and they built folds for their flocks.

Numbers 32:37

The Reubenites built up Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

Numbers 32:38

as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. And they renamed the cities they rebuilt.

Numbers 32:39

The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

Numbers 32:40

So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled there.

Numbers 32:41

Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured their villages and called them Havvoth-jair.

Numbers 32:42

And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah, after his own name.

Deuteronomy 33:6

Let Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few.”

Genesis 35:22

While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

Deuteronomy 5:21

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Deuteronomy 27:20

‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

1 Chronicles 5:1

These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.

1 Corinthians 5:1

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.