H2142 — זָכַר (zâkar)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H2142
Original: זָכַר
Transliteration: zâkar
Pronunciation: zaw-kar'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: Possibly denominative from H2145 (zâkâr, "male") — "to mark so as to be recognized"
Unique Verses: 222 in OT (280 tokens)
Books: 32
First Occurrence: Gen 8:1 — "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing..."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; also as denominative from [H2145], properly to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; also to be male:— burn [incense], earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record(-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, still, think on, well.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count (approx.)	Typical Meaning
Qal	~190	remember, be mindful, think on
Niphal	~15	be remembered, be mentioned
Hiphil	~17	make mention of, cause to remember; "recorder" (official title)

Stems confirmed from hebrew_parser.py samples: Gen 8:1 Qal.Wayq.3ms; Num 10:9 Niphal.Perf.2mp; Isa 62:6 / 2Sa 8:16 Hiphil.Ptcp.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Group	Verses	%
remember / remembered / rememberest / remembereth / remembering	~147	~66%
be remembered / be mindful / mindful	~13	~6%
make mention / mention / mentioned	~12	~5%
recorder / record / to record	~11	~5%
in remembrance / to remembrance / call to remembrance	~9	~4%
think / think on	~4	~2%
Other (earnestly, still, well, etc.)	~26	~12%

Note: KJV translation is highly fragmented (80+ variants) because zakar occurs in many syntactic constructions (impv, jussive, wayq, inf abs, ptc, etc.). Core meaning in ~95% of uses is "remember" in some form.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Lamentations	6	3.9
Nehemiah	9	2.2
Psalms	51	2.1
Jonah	1	2.1
Nahum	1	2.1
Isaiah	26	2.0
Hosea	4	2.0
Ecclesiastes	4	1.8
Habakkuk	1	1.8
Malachi	1	1.8
Ezekiel	20	1.6
Deuteronomy	14	1.5
Amos	2	1.4
Esther	2	1.2
Jeremiah	15	1.1
Micah	1	1.0
Job	10	0.9
Zechariah	2	0.9
2 Samuel	5	0.7
Genesis	9	0.6
Exodus	7	0.6
2 Kings	4	0.6
Judges	3	0.5
1 Samuel	4	0.5
2 Chronicles	3	0.4
1 Chronicles	4	0.4
Numbers	5	0.4
Joshua	2	0.3
Leviticus	2	0.2
1 Kings	2	0.2
Proverbs	1	0.1
Song of Songs	1	—

Patterns: Concentrated in poetry/prophecy (Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations = 118 of 222 verses). Lamentations has the highest density (3.9/100), reflecting the book's intense backward-looking grief. Deuteronomy (14x) anchors the torah-level command to remember. Notably absent from most wisdom literature and narrative Torah.

Semantic Categories¶

1. God Remembering His Covenant / His People¶

The dominant theological use: God's zakar toward his people is an act of loyal covenant fidelity, not mere mental recall.

Gen 8:1 — "And God remembered Noah... and God made a wind to pass over the earth"
Gen 9:15 — "And I will remember my covenant... and the waters shall no more become a flood"
Lev 26:42 — "Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob... and I will remember the land"
Exo 2:24 — "And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham"

2. Israel Commanded to Remember (Imperative)¶

Zakar as a covenant obligation — remembering Exodus, Sabbath, and Torah as loyalty markers.

Exo 20:8 — "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy"
Deu 5:15 — "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt... therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day"
Num 15:39 — "...that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them"
Mal 4:4 — "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb"

3. Prayer: Appealing to God to Remember¶

Supplicants invoke God's zakar as an appeal to covenantal faithfulness — "remember me" as a cry for deliverance.

Jdg 16:28 — "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me... only this once"
1Sa 1:11 — "O LORD of hosts... remember me, and not forget thine handmaid" (Hannah's vow)
Neh 13:14 — "Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds"
Hab 3:2 — "in wrath remember mercy"

4. Forgetting as Covenant Failure (zakar negated)¶

The antonym of zakar (H7911 shâkach, "forget") defines unfaithfulness. Not-remembering = spiritual apostasy.

Jdg 8:34 — "And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them"
Isa 43:25 — "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions... and will not remember thy sins"
Jer 31:34 — "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more"
Eze 36:31 — "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good"

5. Proclamation / Making Mention (Hiphil)¶

Hiphil zakar = "cause to be remembered" = public declaration, praise, invocation.

Isa 12:4 — "make mention that his name is exalted"
Isa 62:6 — "ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence"
1Chr 16:4 — "he appointed certain of the Levites... to record, and to thank and praise the LORD"
Jer 2:2 — "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth" (God's remembrance as recital/proclamation)

6. The "Recorder" — Official Royal Title (Hiphil Participle)¶

Hiphil participle מַזְכִּיר (mazkîr) = "one who causes to remember" = court recorder/herald/annalist.

2Sa 8:16 — "Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder"
1Ki 4:3 — "Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder"
2Ki 18:18 — "Joah the son of Asaph the recorder"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (Yahweh)	H3068	67x (30%)	"remember the LORD" / "God remembered"
כֹּל (kol)	H3605	43x (19%)	"remember all thy commandments / all thy ways"
יוֹם (yôwm)	H3117	33x (15%)	"remember the day" / "days of remembrance"
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	29x (13%)	"remember the land" / "remembered... in all the earth"
בֵּן (bên)	H1121	25x (11%)	generational memory, "children of Israel" context
מִצְרַיִם (Mitsrayim)	H4714	19x (9%)	"remember Egypt" / historical remembrance
שֵׁם (shêm)	H8034	19x (9%)	"make mention of his name" / proclamation use
בְּרִית (bᵉrîyth)	H1285	18x (8%)	"remember my covenant" — covenant context dominant
עֶבֶד (ebed)	H5650	17x (8%)	"remember thy servant" — prayer pattern

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2141 זָכַךְ (zâkak) — to be bright, pure, clean (cognate root; semantic overlap in "clarity/marking")
H2143 זֵכֶר / זֶכֶר (zêker) — memorial, remembrance, name; noun derived from H2142 (24x)
H2145 זָכָר (zâkâr) — male, man-child; possibly related denominative (183x)
H2146 זִכְרוֹן (zikrôwn) — memorial, remembrance, record (24x) — most direct noun cognate

Synonyms¶

H995 בִּין (bîyn) — understand, discern; neighboring cognitive verb in the memory/understanding field
H1897 הָגָה (hâgâh) — meditate, ponder, utter; overlaps where remembrance is reflective rehearsal
H3045 יָדַע (yâdaʻ) — know; overlaps when remembering functions as conscious acknowledgment
עָלָה עַל־לֵב — "come upon the heart / bring to mind" idiom returned by search_relationships.py
שִׂיחַ — meditation / musing vocabulary returned by search_relationships.py
שָׂכַל — consideration / wisdom vocabulary returned by search_relationships.py
שׁוּב עַל־לֵב — "bring back to heart" idiom returned by search_relationships.py
שָׁמַע — hearing / heeding vocabulary returned by search_relationships.py

Antonyms¶

H7911 שָׁכַח (shâkach) — forget; the direct opposite already visible in the study's negated zakar passages

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
זֵכֶר (zêker)	H2143	"remembered" (1x overlap)	H2143 is a noun (memorial/name); H2142 is the verb
שָׁכַח (shâkach)	H7911	(antonym)	"forget" — functional opposite; often paired in antithesis
פָּקַד (pâqad)	H6485	"I remember" (1x overlap)	pâqad = visit/attend/appoint; zakar = mentally recall with action

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002004002007	Know	Primary cognitive/memory field for remembering, recalling, and making mention
002003002020	Sacrifice	Secondary cultic field, matching the lexicon's rare memorial/incense branch
001002007007	Officials	Fits the Hiphil participial office-title mazkîr ("recorder")
002001001047	Sex	Reflects the denominative lexicon branch "be male" alongside the remembrance sense

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occ	PMI Score	Notes
μνάομαι (mnáomai) G3415	108	31.13	Primary equivalent — middle voice "to remember for oneself"
μιμνήσκω (mimnḗskō) G3403	62	27.16	Older root; cognate of μνάομαι; "to bring to mind"
ἀναμιμνήσκω (anamimnḗskō) G363	18	19.69	"to remind; recall" — often in Niphal contexts
μνημονεύω (mnēmoneúō) G3421	8	14.32	"to exercise memory" — more cognitive emphasis
μνεία (mneía) G3417	7	12.84	Noun "recollection/mention" — maps Hiphil proclamation use
διαθήκη (diathḗkē) G1242	19	8.44	"covenant" — appears when zakar co-occurs with berîyth

Note: The primary LXX bridge G3415 μνάομαι carries the full covenantal weight of zakar into the NT, appearing in Lk 1:54, 1:72 ("in remembrance of his mercy"), and Heb 8:12 / 10:17 (quoting Jer 31:34: "their sins will I remember no more").