What Does Genesis 43:31 Mean in the King James?
And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word for holding himself back shares a root with a water channel: the feeling is contained and directed, not erased.
THE MEANING
A strong feeling can remain present while you gather yourself and return to the room. Here, restraint gives that feeling a boundary, and ordinary care continues in the words, “Set on bread.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a feeling must either disappear or spill out unchecked; it can remain real while its expression is contained.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְאַפַּק
vayyit'appaq
GROWS FROM
אפק
ʾ-p-q
To contain or hold back; in this reflexive form, to restrain oneself.
“refrained” in this verse is vayyit'appaq. The verb describes holding himself back, and this root also forms a word for a channel or streambed that contains a current. The scene presents emotion as force with banks: still present, but given a course as he speaks and the room continues.
ALSO GROWS
ʾafiq: A channel or streambed.
אֲפִיק
A channel holds and directs flowing water, echoing the way this verb depicts restraint.
lehitʾappeq: To restrain oneself or hold back.
לְהִתְאַפֵּק
This infinitive form makes explicit the act expressed by “refrained” in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A response can be held within bounds until the moment is ready for it to move.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.The Hebrew word אֲפִיקֵי (afikei, “channels”) in “water brooks” comes from the same root, אפק, as “refrained himself” here. A channel does not remove water; it gives its movement a course, making the restraint in Genesis feel like directed force rather than emotional absence.
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