KJV 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.
VERSE STUDY • KJV
Genesis 49:4
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.
Read it in 5 translations
BSB Berean Standard Bible
Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
WEB World English Bible
Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
ASV American Standard Version
Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
YLT Young’s Literal Translation
Unstable as water, thou art not abundant; For thou hast gone up thy father’s bed; Then thou hast polluted: My couch he went up!
Surrounding context — Genesis 49
1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you [that] which shall befall 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 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 honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill 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.
Topics connected to this verse
Original-language word links
These Hebrew/Greek tokens are linked by Strong's number. Click one for its lexicon definition and other occurrences.
פַּ֤חַזH6349 · pa.chazrecklessnessכַּמַּ֙יִם֙H4325 · ma.yimwaterאַל־H408 · alnotתּוֹתַ֔רH3498 · ya.tarto remainכִּ֥יH3588 · kiforעָלִ֖יתָH5927 · a.lahto ascend: riseמִשְׁכְּבֵ֣יH4904 · mish.kavbedאָבִ֑יךָH1 · avfatherאָ֥זH227 · azthenחִלַּ֖לְתָּH2490 · cha.lalto boreיְצוּעִ֥יH3326 · ya.tsu.abedעָלָֽה׃ פH5927 · a.lahto ascend: rise
Cross-references
Genesis 35:22And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard [it]. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:Deuteronomy 27:20Cursed [be] he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.1 Chronicles 5:1Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he [was] the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.Deuteronomy 33:6Let Reuben live, and not die; and let [not] his men be few.1 Corinthians 5:1It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.James 1:6-8But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.Genesis 46:8And these [are] the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.Deuteronomy 5:21Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any [thing] that [is] thy neighbour’s.2 Peter 3:16As also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.2 Peter 2:14Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:Numbers 32:1-42Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place [was] a place for cattle;
CLASSIC COMMENTARY & PREACHING
Spurgeon on Genesis 49:4
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