To mislay , i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention
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שָׁכַח (šākaḥ) means to forget, fail to remember, become oblivious of, or neglect. Genesis says the cupbearer forgot Joseph; Deuteronomy warns Israel not to forget the LORD, the covenant, or vulnerable neighbors; wisdom warns rulers against forgetting just decrees; and laments ask whether God has forgotten a sufferer or community.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׁכַח (H7911) · Open the biblical lexicon
שָׁכַח (šākaḥ) means to forget, fail to remember, become oblivious of, or neglect. Genesis says the cupbearer forgot Joseph; Deuteronomy warns Israel not to forget the LORD, the covenant, or vulnerable neighbors; wisdom warns rulers against forgetting just decrees; and laments ask whether God has forgotten a sufferer or community.
The BSB source-word alignment has 102 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include forget (25), and forget (4), be forgotten (4), will be forgotten (4), forgotten (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 27:45. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (33), Deuteronomy (14), Jeremiah (13), Isaiah (10).
שָׁכַח (šākaḥ) means to forget, fail to remember, become oblivious of, or neglect. Genesis says the cupbearer forgot Joseph; Deuteronomy warns Israel not to forget the Lord, the covenant, or vulnerable neighbors; wisdom warns rulers against forgetting just decrees; and laments ask whether God has forgotten a sufferer or community. Some contexts involve ordinary memory failure, while others describe culpable inattention or covenant disloyalty. The verb alone does not make every lapse a moral offense.
Deuteronomy repeatedly connects forgetting God with settled prosperity and competing allegiance. Its response is communal remembrance through teaching, worship, obedience, and care. Deuteronomy 24:19 gives the same verb an unexpected social function: a forgotten sheaf must remain for the foreigner, orphan, and widow. What the landowner fails to retrieve becomes provision for someone vulnerable. Forgetting therefore cannot be reduced to one inward spiritual mechanism.
Isaiah 49 answers Zion's claim that the Lord has forgotten her with God's assurance, 'I will not forget you.' Laments still ask honest questions about divine absence. These texts do not portray God as cognitively impaired or unreliable; they give suffering people covenant language for perceived abandonment and promise. Human memory disability, dementia, trauma, attention differences, and ordinary forgetfulness must not be equated with rebellion against God.
H7911 appears in narrative memory lapses, covenant warnings, social law, prophetic accusation and assurance, lament, wisdom, and reflections on fading human remembrance.
Pharaoh's chief cupbearer does not remember Joseph but forgets him after release from prison.
Israel is warned not to forget the Lord who brought them from slavery when they settle into houses and abundance they did not produce.
A sheaf forgotten in the field must not be retrieved; it is left for the foreigner, orphan, and widow.
God responds to Zion's fear of abandonment by comparing and surpassing a nursing mother's remembrance of her child.
The prophetic accusation joins rejection of knowledge with forgetting God's instruction and announces consequences for priestly responsibility.
After being fed and satisfied, Israel's heart is exalted and the people forget God.
The psalmist asks how long the Lord will forget, giving faithful lament language for experienced absence.
The psalmist addresses the self with a call to bless the Lord and not forget all God's benefits.
Kings are warned that impaired judgment can lead them to forget decrees and pervert the rights of the afflicted.
The teacher observes that both wise and foolish people are eventually forgotten, within reflection on mortality and the limits of earthly achievement.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Forgetting as moral negligence, not mere memory loss—inattention to covenant and relationship with God.
Forgetting as moral negligence, not mere memory loss—inattention to covenant and relationship with God.
to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention BDB: forget Usage: × at all, (cause to) forget.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 102 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁכַח is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Spiritual neglect stands at the root of Israel’s coming loss. Hosea 13:1-8
Tyre’s obscurity underscores the humbling effect of divine judgment. Hosea 4:4-10
Contrasts human perception with divine faithfulness. Isaiah 17:9-11
Spiritual amnesia underlying idolatry. Isaiah 23:15-18
Forgetting Torah triggers covenant curse. Isaiah 49:14-21
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H7911 helps teachers speak about memory without confusing cognitive capacity with covenant faithfulness. Deuteronomy's warnings concern neglect of the Lord, covenant instruction, deliverance, and neighborly responsibility within a formed community. Genesis, Job, Ecclesiastes, and other texts also use the verb for ordinary forgetting, fading remembrance, or missed attention.
Isaiah and the Psalms give sufferers language to fear that God has forgotten them, then place that fear within prayer and promise. Healthy practice builds shared memory through Scripture, testimony, worship, records, reminders, and care. It does not shame people with dementia, brain injury, trauma, depression, attention differences, aging, or ordinary lapses.
Leaders should also avoid weaponizing 'you forgot God' against someone who questions authority or cannot recall details. Where memory loss raises safety or medical concerns, compassionate assessment and qualified care are appropriate.
Deut.6.12
H7911 covers forgetting, failing to remember, becoming oblivious, and neglecting. Its counterpart H2142 can express remembering, mentioning, or bringing to mind, but the two words do not create an exhaustive moral binary in every occurrence. Subject, object, agency, and genre govern culpability.
New Testament remembrance practices and warnings against neglect can extend the canonical conversation, but each Greek term and passage has its own setting. The Lord's Supper can be discussed as Christian communal remembrance without being inserted as the direct meaning of H7911.
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