Hebrew word · H7913

שָׁכֵחַ

shekhechei

forgetful

Forget. In covenant contexts it means failing to keep someone in view in practice: neglecting, ignoring, setting aside.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

forgetting, forgetful, forget

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Forget. In covenant contexts it means failing to keep someone in view in practice: neglecting, ignoring, setting aside.
Against the English: 'Forget' in English suggests a memory lapse. The Hebrew describes behaviour: the temple and its God have dropped out of their lives.
How it drifted: English 'forget' has narrowed to something that goes on in the mind. Hebrew 'remember/forget' cover action as well as thought.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deuteronomy 8:11–19 ('Take care lest you forget the LORD… and go after other gods'); Psalm 106:21; Jeremiah 2:32 ('my people have forgotten me days without number'); Hosea 2:13.

Range of meaning: To forget. In covenant language this is mainly a matter of action and attitude, not memory: to ignore, neglect, stop taking account of, or live as if someone has no claim on you. In Deut 8:11–19, 'forgetting the LORD' is spelled out as failing to keep His commands and saying 'my power got me this wealth'.
Against the English: Most versions keep 'forget'. NLT has 'ignore God', which captures the practical sense but loses the link with 'forgotten' in v. 18. English 'forget' usually suggests an innocent lapse of memory.
How it drifted: Hebrew ties remembering and forgetting to action. When God 'remembers' someone, He acts for them. In English, forgetting is a mental event. The drift comes from the difference between the two languages.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deut 6:12; 8:11–19; Judg 3:7; Ps 50:22 ('you who forget God'); Ps 78:7, 11; Hos 13:6. In Ps 9–10 the root runs through the whole poem: God 'does not forget the cry of the afflicted' (9:12). The needy 'will not always be forgotten' (9:18). The wicked man says in his heart, 'God has forgotten, He will never see' (10:11). The psalmist prays, 'Do not forget the afflicted' (10:12).

Psalms · 1

Psalm 9:17 שְׁכֵחֵ֥י forgetful of

The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.

Here: Literally 'forgetters of'. It describes a settled way of living, not one lapse of memory: acting as though God is absent or does not count. The same root comes back at once in v. 18 (the needy are not 'forgotten').

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 65:11 הַשְּׁכֵחִ֖ים <the> forgetting

But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,

Here: 'The ones forgetting'. This is not absent-mindedness. In the Bible, 'forgetting' God means no longer acting on your bond with him: neglecting his worship and his claims.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.