Bible Strands
Psalms 106:21
They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the congregation of Israel, tracing their rebellion immediately after detailing the golden calf incident. The moment captures the community’s sudden spiritual amnesia following the Exodus deliverance.
The words — The verb שָ֭כְחוּ (shakh.chu) translates literally as "they forgot," directly governing אֵל (‘el) and מוֹשִׁיעָ֑ם (mo.shi‘ām) for "God their Savior." This construction explicitly names the deity whose recorded interventions in Egypt were actively dismissed.
The thread — The same pattern of forgotten deliverance appears in Psalms 78:11 and 78:42, where the text catalogs Israel’s repeated failure to recall God’s power. Deuteronomy 32:17 parallels the passage by contrasting their abandonment of God with worship to unrecognized deities.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that covenant faithfulness depends on deliberate remembrance of past divine acts. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of how quickly historical salvation is replaced by immediate compromise.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
Cross-references
- Psalms 78:42 They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
- Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.
- Psalms 78:11 They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.
- Psalms 106:13 Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.
- Jeremiah 2:32 Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
- Deuteronomy 4:34 Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
- Deuteronomy 10:21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome wonders that your eyes have seen.
- Psalms 135:9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
- Titus 3:4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
- Deuteronomy 6:22 Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household.