1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,because you went up to your father’s bed;then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers;weapons of violence are their swords.
6 Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company.For in their anger they killed men,and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.