“While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.”

Reading this verse in context

This page shows one verse on its own, which is rarely how it was written. Genesis 35 contains 29 verses, and the sentences either side usually decide what this one means. Read the whole chapter before you quote it.

Text: World English Bible, Protestant edition (engwebp), eBible.org — public domain.