Genesis 49:4
But you were as uncontrollable as a flood [SIM]. So now you will not be my most important son, because you climbed up onto my bed, and had sex with [MTY] my ◄concubine/slave who had become one of my wives►. Your doing that caused me, your father, to have great shame.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
In Context
5Simeon and Levi, you have both acted like criminals. You use your swords to act violently.
Cross References
Genesis 46:8◄Here is/I will now give you► a list of the names of the members of Jacob’s family who went with him to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son; Reuben’s sons Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; Simeon and his sons Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, who was the son of a Canaan people-group woman; Levi and his sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; Judah and his sons, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (his other sons, Er, and Onan, had died in Canaan); Perez and his two sons Hezron and Hamul; Issachar and his sons Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron; Zebulon and his sons Sered, Elon, and Jahleel; (Those were the sons of Jacob and Leah, and their daughter Dinah, who were born in Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia: There were 33 of them, altogether.) They had Gad and his sons Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli; Asher and his sons Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah; and their sister Serah; Beriah’s sons Heber and Malkiel; (Those were the children and grandchildren of Jacob and Zilpah, the slave girl whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah: There were 16 of them, altogether.) Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel; (Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph’s two sons. They did not go down to Egypt because they were already in Egypt. They were sons of Asenath, the daughter of On, who was the priest in the temple in On city.) Benjamin and his sons Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard; (Those were the sons and grandsons of Rachel and Jacob: There were 14 people altogether.) Dan and his son Hushim; Naphtali and his sons Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. (Those were the sons and grandsons of Jacob and Bilhah, the slave girl whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel: There were seven people altogether.)
Deuteronomy 5:21Do not ◄covet/desire to have► someone else’s wife, someone else’s house, someone else’s fields, someone else’s male slave or female slave, someone else’s livestock, someone else’s donkeys, or anything else that another person owns.’
Deuteronomy 33:6I say this about the tribe of Reuben: I desire/hope that their tribe will never disappear, but they will never become numerous.
1 Corinthians 5:1Now I want to discuss another matter. It has been {People have} reported to me, and I believe that it is true, that some people among you have been acting in a sexually immoral way, in a way that is so bad that not even ◄pagans/people who do not know about God► act that way. People tell me that a man is living with his stepmother (OR, his father’s other wife).
2 Peter 2:14They want to commit [MTY] adultery with every woman whom they look at. They never stop seeking opportunities to sin. They entice/persuade those who are spiritually unstable to join them in doing the sinful things that they do. Because of their ever-increasing ◄greed/desire to have more and more things►, they are doomed to eternal punishment.
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 →