Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph acts before his Egyptian attendants after years of separation from his brothers, clearing the room to reveal his identity. He commands his staff to leave so he can converse privately with his siblings.
The words — The Hebrew term לְהִתְאַפֵּק (lehitappeq) literally means "to restrain oneself," marking the moment Joseph loses his composure. His response is captured by וַיִּקְרָא (vayyiqra), "and he called out," indicating a loud, public command to dismiss the room.
The thread — This scene mirrors Joseph’s earlier private weeping for his brother in Genesis 43:30 and aligns with Isaiah’s pattern of restrained silence giving way to audible expression in Isaiah 42:14. It also prefigures the private confrontation principle later stated in Matthew 18:15.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to note that revelation and reconciliation demand the removal of external witnesses. It asks for recognition that emotional breaking precedes necessary disclosure.
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
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
Cross-references
- Genesis 43:30 Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep.
- Matthew 18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
- 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.
- Acts 10:41 not by all the people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand, by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
- 2 Samuel 1:20 Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
- Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
- 1 Corinthians 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.