Psalm 106:13-15
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What's easy to miss is how quickly their "forgetting" happened, often within just three days of experiencing God's incredible power. This wasn't a slow drift; it was a sudden "making haste to forget," a rush into impatience that sidelined God's wisdom and their trust in Him.
But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Right after God miraculously delivered them from Egypt and led them through the Red Sea, the Israelites quickly forgot His amazing power and guidance. Instead of patiently trusting His plan, they rushed ahead, becoming impatient and questioning Him within days of their freedom. This led them to demand what they wanted rather than wait for God’s counsel.
How quickly can we forget the incredible things God has done? This psalm points to a startling speed of spiritual amnesia.
The Israelites had just witnessed God's unparalleled power in their deliverance from Egypt, parting the Red Sea and utterly destroying their enemies. Yet, the text emphasizes how soon they forgot. The Hebrew word often translated as 'soon' can also suggest haste – 'they hurried to forget.' This wasn't just a passive forgetting; it was an active turning away from the awe and gratitude they should have felt.
This highlights a core human tendency: to let present difficulties overshadow past faithfulness. When faced with a new challenge – thirst in the desert – they didn't recall God's recent, monumental acts. Their immediate reaction wasn't trust, but impatience and doubt. It's a stark reminder that experiencing God's power doesn't automatically inoculate us against future forgetfulness.
Waiting on God's wisdom is hard, especially when our own plans feel more urgent. What happens when we refuse to wait for His counsel?
The second part of the verse reveals the consequence of this forgetfulness: 'they did not wait for his counsel.' This wasn't just about a lack of patience; it was a refusal to seek and trust God's guidance. They were unwilling to wait for God's timing and His methods for providing for them.
Instead of patiently seeking God's wisdom for their immediate needs (like water at Marah, or food in the wilderness), they chose to rely on their own desires and expectations. This impatience led them to 'lust exceedingly' for what they wanted, rather than trusting God's provision. When we fail to wait for God's counsel, we often create our own 'counsel' based on our immediate wants, which rarely leads to His best for us.
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Understand the original words
ma'aseh · Hebrew Noun
Acts or deeds of God performed in history to deliver, sustain, or judge His people. These serve as objective evidence of His sovereignty, grace, and power.
etsah · Hebrew Noun
The divine wisdom, purpose, or instruction that God provides for His people. Failing to wait for this implies impatience and a refusal to trust in God's timing and guidance.
ta'avah · Hebrew Noun
A strong, often sinful desire or intense appetite for something outside of God’s provided boundaries. It denotes a lack of contentment and a turning toward worldly gratification.
nasah · Hebrew Verb
To challenge or provoke God to prove His presence, power, or goodness. This is an act of unbelief, doubting God's faithfulness despite evidence of His previous intervention.
razon · Hebrew Noun
A state of physical or spiritual depletion and decline. Often used in Scripture to describe the consequences of divine judgment or the toll of sin upon the body or soul.
The verse highlights Israel's immediate and repeated failure to trust God's plan, demonstrating a pattern of impatience and forgetfulness that marked their early days in the wilderness.
c. 1446 BC
Exodus and Red Sea Crossing
God miraculously delivers the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through Moses, culminating in the parting of the Red Sea, a powerful demonstration of His might.
c. 1446 BC— this verse
Bitter Waters at Marah
Just three days after the Red Sea crossing, the Israelites find the water at Marah undrinkable and begin to grumble against Moses, forgetting the recent miracle.
c. 1446 BC
Complaints in the Wilderness of Sin
Soon after Marah, the entire community grumbles again, this time about a lack of food, leading to God providing manna.
c. 1445 BC
Lust for Meat at the "Place of Craving"
Later in their journey, the Israelites complain about the manna and intensely crave meat, leading to God sending quail but also a plague.
This passage describes the Israelites' immediate discontent and forgetting of God's mighty acts just three days after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt, mirroring the impatience highlighted in Psalm 106:13.
Numbers 11:4-6The 'rabble among them' began to crave meat with greedy desire, showing a similar pattern of forgetting God's provision (manna) and refusing to wait for His appointed way.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3Moses reminds the people to remember how God humbled and tested them in the wilderness, feeding them with manna, as a counterpoint to their tendency to forget His works and counsel.
Hebrews 3:7-11The author of Hebrews directly quotes Psalm 106:13 (among other passages) to warn the New Testament church against hardening their hearts and forgetting God's deeds, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness.
Isaiah 55:8-9This prophetic passage emphasizes the vast difference between God's ways and thoughts and our own, underscoring the folly of impatience and the need to wait for His counsel rather than relying on our limited understanding.
bensonPsalms 106:13: "They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:"
Psalm 106:13-15 . They soon forgat his works — Even within three days, Exodus 15:22 , and lost the impressions those works had made upon them. They that do not improve God’s mercies to them, nor endeavour, in some measure, to render to him according to the benefits done unto them, do indeed forget them. Hebrew, מהרו שׁכחו , meharu shachechu, they made haste, they forgat. So the margin. They turned aside quickly, as it…
gillPsalms 106:13: "They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:"
They soon forgat his works,.... The miracles he wrought in Egypt, the deliverance of them from thence with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, and the leading them through the Red sea as on dry land, and destroying all their enemies; all these they soon forgot, for they had gone but three days' journey into the wilderness after this, ere they began to murmur and show distrust of the power and providence of God, Exodus…
What's easy to miss is how quickly their "forgetting" happened, often within just three days of experiencing God's incredible power. This wasn't a slow drift; it was a sudden "making haste to forget," a rush into impatience that sidelined God's wisdom and their trust in Him.
Right after God miraculously delivered them from Egypt and led them through the Red Sea, the Israelites quickly forgot His amazing power and guidance. Instead of patiently trusting His plan, they rushed ahead, becoming impatient and questioning Him within days of their freedom. This led them to demand what they wanted rather than wait for God’s counsel.
Right after God miraculously delivered them from Egypt and led them through the Red Sea, the Israelites quickly forgot His amazing power and guidance. Instead of patiently trusting His plan, they rushed ahead, becoming impatient and questioning Him within days of their freedom. This led them to demand what they wanted rather than wait for God’s counsel.
"But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease amo…" — What's easy to miss is how quickly their "forgetting" happened, often within just three days of experiencing God's incredible power. This wasn't a slow drift; it was a sudden "making haste to forget,…
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Last reviewed October 2026
