Word study

Astray

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “astray”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “astray” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • תָּעָה tââherrtranslated this way 21 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H8582Verb  ·  Translated: astray 5, go astray 4, wandered 3, stray 3

    2 Kings 21:9 But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

    2 Chronicles 33:9 So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

    Full study and all 45 verses →
  • שָׂטָה sâṭâhturn asidetranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7847Verb  ·  Translated: goes astray 2, gone astray 2, Turn 1, turn aside 1

    Numbers 5:12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him

    Numbers 5:19 And he is to put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune to this bitter water that brings a curse.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • שָׁגָה shâgâhgo astray, errtranslated this way 4 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7686Verb  ·  Translated: stray 4, strays unintentionally 2, captivated 2, led astray 2

    Job 19:4 Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.

    Proverbs 5:23 He dies for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

    Full study and all 19 verses →
  • נָדַח nâdachimpel, thrust, banishtranslated this way 2 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H5080Verb  ·  Translated: banished 13, exiles 5, driven 4, banish 4

    Deuteronomy 13:13 that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

    2 Chronicles 21:11 Jehoram had also built high places on the hills of Judah; he had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

    Full study and all 53 verses →
  • נָטָה nâṭâhstretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bendtranslated this way 2 times of its 215 uses · Strong’s H5186Verb  ·  Translated: incline 24, stretch 23, stretched 21, outstretched 19

    Job 36:18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray.

    Isaiah 44:20 He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

    Full study and all 207 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πλανάω planáōI lead astray, deceivetranslated this way 4 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s G4105Verb  ·  Translated: deceived 10, deceive 7, deceives 3, deceiving 2

    Matthew 18:12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

    Hebrews 3:10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’

    Full study and all 37 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.