person · also Reubenite
Reuben
רְאוּבֵןῬουβήν

- verses
- 86
- first named
- Genesis 29:32
- last named
- Revelation 7:5
- period
- the Patriarchs
- tribe
- Reuben
Description
Who was Reuben?
Reuben was the firstborn son of Israel (or 'Jacob') and Leah (Gen.29.32). As the firstborn, he held a position of prominence and was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance (Gen.49.3; Deu.21.17). However, Reuben lost his birthright due to his sin of sleeping with his father's concubine, Bilhah (Gen.35.22; 49.3-4; 1Ch.5.1). Despite this, Reuben showed concern for his younger brother Joseph and tried to save him from their brothers' plot to kill him (Gen.37.21-22, 29). Later, he offered to bear the blame if harm came to Benjamin on their journey to Egypt (Gen.42.37). When Jacob blessed his sons, he described Reuben as "unstable as water" and declared that he would not excel because of his past actions (Gen.49.3-4). The tribe of Reuben, along with the tribes of Gad and half of Manasseh, settled in the land east of the Jordan River (Numbers 32; Jos.13.15-23). They assisted the other tribes in conquering Canaan before returning to their inheritance (Joshua 22). In the time of the judges, the tribe of Reuben was criticized for not assisting Deborah and Barak in the fight against Sisera (Jdg.5.15-16). The tribe of Reuben is mentioned in the visions of Ezekiel and Revelation, symbolizing its place among the restored tribes of Israel (Ezk.48.6-7, 31; Rev.7.5).
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 27 are drawn. All 27 are listed below.
Ancestor of
Child of
- IsraelregistryExodus 6:141 Chronicles 5:3Genesis 46:8 +2
- Leahregistry, no verse
Father of
Parent of
Sibling of
Stands in the same events as
- Gad20 events
- Israel11 events
- Manasseh9 events
- Moses7 events
- Jordan5 events
- Zebulun5 events
- Joseph4 events
- Benjamin4 events
- Gilead4 events
- Joshua3 events
- Naphtali3 events
- Asher3 events
and 62 more, ordered by how many events they share.
Places
Where this happens
The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.
The pattern
Where Reuben is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
86 verses across 10 of 66 books; 56 write the name nowhere. Named in Genesis (13), Exodus (2), Numbers (20), Deuteronomy (7), Joshua (25), Judges (2), 2 Kings (1), 1 Chronicles (12), Ezekiel (3) and Revelation (1).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 86, across 10 books. The name is written 91 times in them.
Genesis13 verses
29:3230:1435:2235:2337:2137:2237:2942:2242:3746:846:948:549:3
Exodus2 verses
Numbers20 verses
1:51:201:212:102:167:3010:1813:416:126:526:732:132:232:632:2532:2932:3132:3332:3734:14
Deuteronomy7 verses
Joshua25 verses
1:124:1212:613:813:1513:2315:618:718:1720:821:721:3622:122:922:1022:1122:1322:1522:2122:2522:3022:3122:3222:3322:34
Judges2 verses
2 Kings1 verse
1 Chronicles12 verses
Ezekiel3 verses
Revelation1 verse
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- Genesis 30Reuben finds mandrakes in the field during the wheat harvest and brings them to his mother.
- Genesis 37Reuben opposed killing Joseph and arranged for him to be put in the pit, intending to return and rescue him.
- Genesis 42Reuben reminded his brothers of his warning and offered his two sons as a guarantee that he would return Benjamin.
- Genesis 49Reuben is named as Jacob’s firstborn, then loses his precedence because he went up to his father’s bed.
- Numbers 32Reuben joined Gad in asking for pastureland east of the Jordan and pledged to fight with Israel.
- Deuteronomy 33Reuben is blessed to live and not die, with his men not becoming few.
- Joshua 4The Reubenites cross before Israel, armed for battle as Moses had instructed.
- Joshua 18Reuben had already received its inheritance beyond the Jordan.
4 more chapters, from Joshua 20 to Revelation 7
- Joshua 20Reuben supplied Bezer on the wilderness plateau beyond the Jordan.
- Joshua 22Reuben helped build the altar, explained that it was a witness rather than a place for sacrifice, and named it Witness.
- 1 Chronicles 5Reuben was the firstborn, but defiled his father’s bed and lost the birthright.
- Revelation 7Reuben is counted among the tribes, with 12,000 sealed.
Sources