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שָׁכַח shâkach — to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention

pronounced shaw-kakh' · Strong's H7911 · 102 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 5 stems: Qal (Pa'al), Niph'al, Hitpa'el, Hiph'il, Pi'el

Translated in the KJV as × at all, forget.

or שָׁכֵחַ; a primitive root; to mislay, i.e. to be oblivious of, from want of memory or attention.

shâkach in each stem

Qal (Pa'al) 86×

Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it

Perfect (qatal) 33Imperfect (yiqtol) 29Wayyiqtol 9Jussive 7Sequential perfect (weqatal) 3Participle (active) 2Infinitive absolute 1Cohortative 1Imperative 1

וְשָׁכַח֙ Gen 27:45 Sequential perfect (weqatal), 3rd person masculine singular

Until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? (KJV)

וַיִּשְׁכָּחֵֽהוּ Gen 40:23 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine singular

Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him. (KJV)

תִּשְׁכַּ֨ח Deut 4:9 Imperfect (yiqtol), 2nd person masculine singular

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; (KJV)

Niph'al 13×

Simple · passive — the plain action; the subject has it done to them

Imperfect (yiqtol) 5Perfect (qatal) 4Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Participle (active) 2

וְנִשְׁכַּ֥ח Gen 41:30 Sequential perfect (weqatal), 3rd person masculine singular

And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; (KJV)

תִשָּׁכַ֖ח Deut 31:21 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person feminine singular

And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. (KJV)

הַֽנִּשְׁכָּחִ֥ים Job 28:4 Participle (active), masculine plural

The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. (KJV)

Hitpa'el

Intensive · reflexive — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it to or for themselves

Imperfect (yiqtol) 1

וְיִֽשְׁתַּכְּח֥וּ Eccl 8:10 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine plural

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity. (KJV)

Hiph'il

Causative · active — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject does it

Infinitive construct 1

לְהַשְׁכִּ֤יחַ Jer 23:27 Infinitive construct

Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. (KJV)

Pi'el

Intensive · active — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it

Perfect (qatal) 1

שִׁכַּ֨ח Lam 2:6 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest. (KJV)

What the stems mean

A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›

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In the app, tap any Hebrew verb while reading: its root, stem and form are named, the letters of the word itself are coloured to show which is which, and the stem's meaning is put in plain English. shâkach in the lexicon ›

Morphology from OpenScriptures MorphHB (CC BY 4.0); definitions from Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (public domain); text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

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