שָׁכַח
sha.khach
to forget
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word שָׁכַח (sha.khach) is defined as "to forget." This verb appears 102 times in the Bible, indicating its significance in the Hebrew language and its importance in various contexts. The meaning of שָׁכַח is straightforward, referring to the act of forgetting something or someone. However, its usage in the Bible reveals a broader range of implications. It can describe forgetting God's commands (Deuteronomy 4:23), forgetting one's past (Isaiah 43:18), or even forgetting one's own identity (Deuteronomy 32:18). This word highlights the importance of remembering and recalling significant events, people, and experiences in life. The frequency of שָׁכַח in the Bible underscores its significance in the Hebrew worldview. It serves as a reminder of the importance of memory, remembrance, and commemoration in Jewish culture and tradition. The concept of forgetting is not just a lack of recall but also a lack of connection to one's heritage, community, and spiritual identity.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
102 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish,
Job 9:27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’
Job 11:16for you will forget your misery. You will remember it like waters that have passed away.
Job 19:14My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
Job 24:20The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
Job 28:4He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.
Job 39:15and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.
Psalms 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
Psalms 9:18For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
Psalms 10:11He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
Psalms 10:12Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless.
Psalms 13:1How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Psalms 31:12I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.
Psalms 42:9I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
Psalms 44:17All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant.
Psalms 44:20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god,
Psalms 44:24Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?
Psalms 45:10Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.
Psalms 50:22“Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.
Psalms 59:11Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
Psalms 74:19Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.
Psalms 74:23Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
Psalms 77:9Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?”
Psalms 78:7that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,
Psalms 78:11They forgot his doings, his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
Psalms 102:4My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.
Psalms 103:2Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits,
Psalms 106:13They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel,
Psalms 106:21They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
Psalms 119:16I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.
Psalms 119:61The ropes of the wicked bind me, but I won’t forget your law.
Psalms 119:93I will never forget your precepts, for with them, you have revived me.
Psalms 119:109My soul is continually in my hand, yet I won’t forget your law.
Psalms 119:139My zeal wears me out, because my enemies ignore your words.
Psalms 119:141I am small and despised. I don’t forget your precepts.
Psalms 119:153Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I don’t forget your law.
Psalms 119:176I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments.
Psalms 137:5If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
Psalms 137:5If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
Proverbs 2:17who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;
Proverbs 3:1My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
Proverbs 4:5Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
Proverbs 31:5lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
Proverbs 31:7Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Ecclesiastes 2:16For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
Ecclesiastes 8:10So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 9:5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.
Isaiah 17:10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
Isaiah 23:15It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
Isaiah 23:16Take a harp; go about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.