נָשָׁה

From the study of Isaiah 44:21

Range of meaning

To forget. It is a rare verb (a handful of uses: Gen 41:51; Lam 3:17; Job 39:17; Isa 44:21; Jer 23:39 is disputed). The common word for 'forget' is shakhach (H7911). Here it appears in the Niphal, the form usually used for the passive ('be forgotten'), yet it carries a pronoun ending meaning 'me'.

Against the English

Most versions give 'you will not be forgotten by me' or 'I will not forget you'. YLT 'thou dost not forget Me' follows the reading of the ancient versions. BSB 'never' is stronger than the plain negative.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 41:51: Manasseh named because 'God has made me forget' (nashshani). Older Hebrew grammars (Gesenius–Kautzsch §117x) list Isa 44:21 among rare cases where a passive verb takes an object ending ('you will not be forgotten as regards me', i.e. by me). The Septuagint has μὴ ἐπιλανθάνου μου, 'do not forget me'.

From the study of Jeremiah 23:39

Range of meaning

To forget, to leave out of mind, to stop caring for. A rare verb, with forms in Gen 41:51 ('God has made me forget all my trouble'), Lam 3:17 ('I have forgotten what good is'), Job 39:17 and Isa 44:21. The common verb for 'forget' is shakach. In Hebrew, forgetting is less a lapse of memory than a failure to act: when God 'remembers' someone he acts for them, and when he 'forgets' he stops doing so.

Against the English

'Forget' (BSB, KJV, WEB, NIV, NASB) is a fair rendering of the Masoretic pointing. The English word can suggest absent-mindedness, which the Hebrew does not. Versions that follow the other reading (RSV, NRSV, ESV) have 'lift you up'.

How it drifted

English 'forget' mostly means an accidental loss of memory. The Hebrew idea of deliberately ceasing to care for someone in a relationship is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 44:21 is the direct opposite: 'O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me' (lōʾ tinnāshēnî). Hos 4:6 has the same tit-for-tat logic with shakach: 'since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.' Jeremiah often accuses the people of forgetting God (2:32; 3:21; 13:25; 18:15).

From the study of Genesis 41:51

Range of meaning

The root נשׁה (n-sh-h) means "to forget." In its basic form it is rare and poetic (e.g. Lam 3:17, "I have forgotten what good is"; Job 39:17, God "made her forget wisdom," said of the ostrich). In the causative form found here ("cause to forget"), it occurs only in this verse. The common Hebrew word for forgetting is a different root, שָׁכַח (shakach). The name Menashsheh has the shape of a participle of this causative form: "one who makes forget." Joseph's explanation therefore matches the name's actual form closely, so it is not a loose pun. In Hebrew, forgetting is often practical and relational more than mental: to stop being governed or preoccupied by something, to stop attending to it (compare Deut 8:11–14, where "forgetting" God means neglecting him).

Against the English

Every major English version says "made me forget," which is accurate. A modern reader can hear amnesia (the memories erased) or a decision to cut people off. The verse means neither by itself. It says God has done something that makes the old pain no longer define him.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lam 3:17 and Job 39:17 use the root for losing hold of something, and Isa 44:21 may use it of being forgotten by God. Naming formulas built the same way (name + כִּי + an explanation using its sounds) run all through Genesis: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah in Gen 29:32–35, then Gen 30 and 35:18. Gesenius' grammar (GKC §52m) treats the unusual first vowel of נַשַּׁנִי as chosen to echo מְנַשֶּׁה.