ASTRAY

a-stra' (ta`ah, "to wander," "to err"; planaomai, "to go astray," each carrying the idea of being lost): With one exception (Exodus 23:4 "his ass going astray") used metaphorically of moral wandering, going astray in paths of error and sin, like "sheep going astray" (1 Peter 2:25 the King James Version; Isaiah 53:6; Psalms 119:176). This wandering may be due (1) to inherent evil (Psalms 58:3); (2) to false shepherds (Jeremiah 50:6); contrast the beautiful and classic passage, Matthew 18:12-13, the Son of man (verse 12) seeketh that which is gone astray. No word more vividly portrays sin as a straying, a separation from God. To be morally "astray" is to be "lost."

Dwight M. Pratt

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.