What Does Psalm 78:11 Mean in the King James?

And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

Psalm 78:11 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The verse’s ache is not that the wonders stayed hidden, but that what had been made visible could still be forgotten.

THE MEANING

What has been shown can be real and still cease to shape what you remember now. The works do not disappear; their trace slips from your present awareness.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that seeing something once means it will remain present to you. Revelation and memory are distinct: what is seen can still be forgotten.

THE ROOT

הֶרְאָם

her'am

GROWS FROM

ראה

To see, look, or perceive; in this form, to cause someone to see.

“shewed” in this verse is her'am. The Hebrew verb is causative: he caused them to see. The same root gives the seer and the vision, so the verse’s ache is precise: the seeing truly happened, yet it did not remain in memory.

ALSO GROWS

ro'eh: One who sees.

רֹאֶה

The same root names the one who sees, linking the act of showing to the viewers’ own perception.

mar'ah: A vision or appearance; what is seen.

מַרְאָה

This branch names what comes into view, underscoring that the wonders were presented to their sight before they were forgotten.

THE PATTERN

What has been seen can still slip from memory when it is not carried into present awareness.

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;

Deuteronomy 4:9 · KJVThe verse links what the eyes have seen with what can depart from the heart, showing that sight alone does not keep a memory present.

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

James 1:24 · KJVA person can look directly and then forget what was before him, echoing the gap between seeing and remembering.

THE THREAD

They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:

Psalm 106:13 · KJV

The same Hebrew root ⁨שׁכח⁩ (shakhach, “forget”) appears in both verses. Here, forgetting is paired with not waiting for counsel, showing how what has been seen can stop informing the present.

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