Deuteronomy 33:4-6

Amplified Bible

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“Moses commanded us with a law,
As a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
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“The Lord was King in Jeshurun (Israel),
When the heads of the people were gathered,
The tribes of Israel together.

⁶
“May [the tribe of] Reuben live and not die out,
^[a]But let his men be few.”

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Footnotes

Deuteronomy 33:6 Or Nor. The Hebrew can be taken either way, though the parallelism of thought slightly favors “nor let.” However, some argue for the wording “but let” due to the fact that Reuben had committed the grave offense of fornication with Bilhah, his father’s concubine (Gen 49:3, 4; also see note Gen 22:24). It is maintained that Moses’ blessing for Reuben is somewhat mixed, asking that the tribe not become extinct, but that it always be few in number.