Bible Strands
Genesis 43:31
Then he washed his face and came back out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Joseph returns to the banquet hall after weeping privately for Benjamin and commands his servants to serve the meal to his brothers and the Egyptians.
The words — וַ/יִּ֨תְאַפַּ֔ק (va/i.Yit.'a.Pak) literally means "he restrained himself," recording Joseph's deliberate effort to control his emotional outburst before speaking.
The thread — This moment of managed grief precedes his complete loss of control in Genesis 45:1 and aligns with the broader scriptural pattern of restraint noted in Isaiah 42:14 and 1 Peter 3:10.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that fulfilling duty often demands suppressing personal emotion, presenting the act as a factual sequence rather than a spiritual lesson.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.
Cross-references
- Genesis 45:1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
- 1 Peter 3:10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
- Isaiah 42:14 “I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.
- Jeremiah 31:16 This is what the LORD says: “Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come, declares the LORD. Then your children will return from the land of the enemy.