Genesis 49:4

You were insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for you went up to the bed of your father; then you defiled the couch, whereupon you went up.

LXX2012 (US English)

In The King James Version

Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

In Context

3Ruben, you + 49:3 Or, you my firstborn, etc., nom. and voc. not being always regularly distinguished in the LXX. See Heb 1:8 ὁ θεὸς. are my firstborn, you my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, hard and self-willed.

5Symeon and Levi, brethren, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.

Read all of Genesis 49

Cross References

Genesis 46:8And these are the names of the sons of Israel that went into Egypt with their father Jacob—Jacob and his sons. The firstborn of Jacob, Ruben.

Deuteronomy 5:21You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; you shall not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any beast of his, nor any thing that is your neighbor's.

Deuteronomy 33:6Let Ruben live, and not die; and let him be many in number.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 49:2-5

Jacob's Prophecy Concerning His Sons. ( b. c. 1689.) 1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befal you in the last days. 2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 49:4