What Does Psalm 106:13 Mean?
They hurried to forget his works. They did not wait for his counsel.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:THE KEY
The Hebrew says they hurried and forgot his works, then would not wait for counsel: what is already given cannot guide a life that never pauses to receive it.
THE MEANING
When you hurry, what has already been done can slip from view; counsel you do not wait for cannot shape what comes next. The verse speaks to the space between what you have received and where you go now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A lack of direction does not always mean counsel is absent; sometimes you have moved on before receiving it.
THE ROOT
מִהֲרוּ
miharu
GROWS FROM
מ־ה־ר
m-h-r
to hurry, hasten
“hurried to forget” in this verse is miharu. The Hebrew form says they hurried and forgot his works. Beside their refusal to wait, that speed links losing sight of what has happened with missing the counsel that could guide what comes next.
ALSO GROWS
mahar: to hurry, hasten
מָהַר
This verb names the speed that frames their forgetting.
meherah: quickly, speedily
מְהֵרָה
The related adverb carries the same sense of moving without delay.
חִכּוּ
ḥikkû
GROWS FROM
ח־כ־ה
ḥ-k-h
to wait for, look for, expect
“waited” in this verse is ḥikkû. This root can describe waiting with expectation, not merely letting time pass. Here, refusing to wait means the counsel is not given room to shape what comes next.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākâ: to wait for, expect
חָכָה
This is the root verb behind the verse’s account of not waiting.
meḥakkēh: one who waits for, awaits
מְחַכֵּה
The related form describes someone remaining in expectation, the posture this verse says is absent.
עֲצָתוֹ
ʿăṣātô
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ץ
y-ʿ-ṣ
to advise, counsel, deliberate
Counsel is guidance formed through advice and deliberation. The verse says they do not wait for this direction, so what is forgotten also fails to orient the next step.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēṣâ: counsel, advice
עֵצָה
This is the noun for the guidance they do not await.
yōʿēṣ: counselor, adviser
יוֹעֵץ
The related word names one who gives counsel, making the verse’s counsel a source of direction rather than a passing thought.
THE PATTERN
Direction stays available when what has been received is remembered and awaited.
And you shall remember the whole road the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to bend you low and to test you, to perceive what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.But those who wait upon the LORD exchange their strength; they rise on wings like eagles; they run and do not tire; they walk and do not faint.Therefore I will not hold back from reminding you always of these things, though you know them and are made steady in the truth at hand.THE THREAD
I remember the deeds of the LORD; surely I remember your wonders of old.Both verses use מַעֲשֶׂה (ma’aseh, work or deed), from עָשָׂה (asah, do or make). Psalm 77 gives the response missing here: the LORD’s works remain present when they are remembered.
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