Forget; Forgetful
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [1]
for - get ´, for - get´ful ( שׁכח , shākhaḥ ; ἐπιλανθάνομαι , epilanthánomai ): "Forget" is to fail to hold in mind, and the forgetfulness may be either innocent or blameworthy. In the Old Testament the word is most frequently used as translation of shākhaḥ in a blameworthy sense: to forget the covenant, the law, Yahweh their God ( Deuteronomy 4:9 , Deuteronomy 4:23 , Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 6:12; Judges 3:7; 1 Samuel 12:9; Psalm 44:20 , etc.). In an innocent or neutral, sometimes good, sense it is used in Genesis 27:45; Deuteronomy 24:19; Job 9:27; Job 11:16; Job 24:20; Psalm 102:4 , etc. It is also used of God forgetting or not seeming to care ( Psalm 9:12; Psalm 10:11 , Psalm 10:12; Psalm 13:1; Psalm 42:9; Psalm 77:9; Isaiah 49:15 , etc.). To "forget" sometimes means to forsake ( Psalm 45:10; Psalm 74:19 , etc.).
In the New Testament epilanthanomai is used of simple forgetting ( Matthew 16:5; Mark 8:14 , etc.; in Luke 12:6 the sense of care is implied); Philippians 3:13 , "forgetting the things which are behind," has the force of leaving behind. "Forgetful" in James 1:25 is epilēsmonḗ , the Revised Version (British and American) "a hearer that forgetteth." "Forgetfulness" Psalm 88:12 , "the land of forgetfulness," is a synonym for Sheol , where all forget and are forgotten. the Revised Version (British and American) has "forget not" for "be ignorant of" ( 2 Peter 3:8; similarly 2 Peter 3:5 ).
