2  “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.

3  “Reuben, you are ^ymy firstborn,

my might, and the ^zfirstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

4  Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,

because you ^awent up to your father’s bed;

then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!