Genesis 49:3

Verse 3 of 33. The 49th of 50 chapters in Genesis, in The Law.

1And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

2Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4Unstable 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.

5Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Read Genesis 49

Genesis 49:3 in the World English Bible

“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.
Read Genesis 49:3 in the WEB

Matthew Henry on Genesis 49:3

Jacob here puts upon him the ornaments of the birthright (v. 3), that he and all his brethren might see what he had forfeited, and, in that, might see the evil of the sin: as the firstborn, he was his father's joy, almost his pride, being the beginning of his strength. How welcome he was to his parents his name bespeaks, Reuben, See a son.

Read Matthew Henry on Genesis 49:1–4: Jacob's Prophecy Concerning His Sons. (b. c. 1689.)

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King James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.