Astray

Astray - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

ASTRA'Y, adv. [a and stray. See Stray.]

Out of the right way or proper place, both in a literal and figurative sense. In morals and religion, it signifies wandering from the path of rectitude, from duty and happiness.

Before I was afflicted, I want astray. Psa 129.

Cattle go astray when they leave their proper owners or inclosures. See Deu 22.

a-stra' (ta`ah, "to wander," "to err"; planaomai, "to go astray," each carrying the idea of being lost): With one exception (Ex 23:4 "his ass going astray") used metaphorically of moral wandering, going astray in paths of error and sin, like "sheep going astray" (1Pe 2:25 the King James Version; Isa 53:6; Ps 119:176).

This wandering may be due

(1) to inherent evil (Ps 58:3);

(2) to false shepherds (Jer 50:6); contrast the beautiful and classic passage, Mt 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