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 defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brethren;instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret;unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united:for in their anger they slew a man,and in their self-will they digged down a wall.
7 Cursed 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.
8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise:thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies;thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp:from the prey, my son, thou art gone up:he stooped down, he couched as a lion,and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?