taa · wander, go astray

What it means

taa (תָּעָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “wander, go astray”.

Be lost; in the causative form, make wander, lead astray.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To lose one's bearings, leave YHWH's way; or make others lose theirs.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To wander, to lose one’s way, to go astray; in the causative form, to make wander, to lead others astray. It is said of one who gets lost in the open country and, above all, of the people who turn away from YHWH.

• Wandering in the field or the wilderness Genesis 21:14Genesis 37:15Psalms 107:4
• “All of us like sheep went astray” Isaiah 53:6Psalms 119:176
• Those who lead the people astray Isaiah 3:12Jeremiah 23:132 Kings 21:9
• The straying animal Exodus 23:4

Historical and cultural background

Exodus 23:4 commands bringing back “your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray”.

How we translate it

“Go astray” in its forms (“went astray” 6 times, “go astray” 5, “gone astray” 3), and “wander” in the field or the wilderness, without the moral sense (“She went and wandered in the wilderness”, Genesis 21:14; “They wandered in the wilderness”, Psalm 107:4). When others are the cause, “led astray” (“led astray my people Israel”, Jeremiah 23:13) or “makes them wander”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• led astray ×6
• went astray ×6
• go astray ×5
• led them astray ×4
• stray ×4
• wander ×4
• gone astray ×3
• makes them wander ×3
• They wandered ×2
• goes astray ×2
• others ×11

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Exodus×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Job×4
• Psalms×6
• Proverbs×5
• Isaiah×15
• Jeremiah×4
• Ezekiel×7
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1
• Micah×1

• Genesis 20:13

  And when Elohim caused me to wander from the house of my father, I said to her, ‘This is the loyal love that you shall show me: in every place that we come to, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

• Genesis 21:14

  Abraham rose early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and also the child, and sent her away. She went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

• Genesis 37:15

  A man found him, and look, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

• Exodus 23:4

  When you come upon your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him.

• 2 Kings 21:9

  But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do evil more than the nations whom YHWH destroyed before the sons of Israel.

• 2 Chronicles 33:9

  Manasseh led astray Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil more than the nations that YHWH had destroyed before the sons of Israel.

• Job 12:24

  He removes the heart of the heads of the people of the land, and makes them wander in a void without a way.

• Job 12:25

  They grope in darkness and without light, and he makes them wander like a drunkard.

• Job 15:31

  Let him not trust in emptiness, led astray, for emptiness will be what he gets in exchange.

• Job 38:41

  Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young cry for help to El and wander without food?

• Psalms 58:3

  The wicked have turned aside from the womb; they have gone astray from the belly, those who speak lies.

• Psalms 95:10

  For forty years I felt loathing for a generation, and I said, “A people who go astray in heart are they, and they have not known my ways.”

• Psalms 107:4

  They wandered in the wilderness, in the desert; a way to a city to dwell in they did not find.

• Psalms 107:40

  He pours contempt on nobles, and makes them wander in a void without a way.

• Psalms 119:110

  The wicked have laid a snare for me, but from your precepts I have not gone astray.

• Psalms 119:176

  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for your commandments I have not forgotten.

• Proverbs 7:25

  Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths.

• Proverbs 10:17

  He who keeps correction is a path to life, but he who abandons reproof leads astray.

• Proverbs 12:26

  The righteous guides his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

• Proverbs 14:22

  Do not those who plot evil go astray? But loyal love and faithfulness are for those who plot good.

• Proverbs 21:16

  A man who wanders from the way of prudence will rest in the assembly of the shades.

• Isaiah 3:12

  My people — its oppressors are children, and women rule over it. My people, those who guide you lead you astray, and the way of your paths they have swallowed up.

• Isaiah 9:16

  And those who guide this people have been leading it astray, and those guided by them are swallowed up.

• Isaiah 16:8

  For the fields of Heshbon languish, the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its choice branches; as far as Jazer they reached, they wandered into the wilderness; its shoots spread out, they crossed over the sea.

• Isaiah 19:13

  The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have led astray Egypt, the cornerstone of its tribes.

• Isaiah 19:14

  YHWH has mixed within it a spirit of dizziness, and they have led astray Egypt in all its work, as a drunkard goes astray in his vomit.

• Isaiah 21:4

  My heart goes astray; horror has overwhelmed me; the twilight of my desire he has made for me into trembling.

• Isaiah 28:7

  But these also stagger with wine and stray with intoxicating drink; priest and prophet stagger with intoxicating drink; they are swallowed by wine, they stray because of intoxicating drink; they stagger in vision, they stumble in giving verdict.

• Isaiah 29:24

  And those who stray in spirit will know understanding, and those who murmur will learn teaching.”

• Isaiah 30:28

  and his blast like a torrent that sweeps away, that reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with a sieve of falsehood; and a bridle that leads astray is on the jaws of the peoples.

• Isaiah 35:8

  And there will be there a highway and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called; the unclean will not pass over it, and it will be for them; the one who walks the way, even fools, will not go astray.

• Isaiah 47:15

  So they are to you, those with whom you wore yourself out, your merchants from your youth; each to his own side they wander; there is no one to save you.”

• Isaiah 53:6

  All of us like sheep went astray; each to his own way we turned; and YHWH caused to fall on him the iniquity of us all.

• Isaiah 63:17

  Why, YHWH, do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from fearing you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.

• Jeremiah 23:13

  And in the prophets of Samaria I saw folly: they prophesied by Baal and led astray my people Israel.

• Jeremiah 23:32

  Look, I am against those who prophesy dreams of falsehood, declares YHWH, and tell them and lead astray my people by their falsehoods and by their recklessness; and I did not send them and did not command them, and they do not profit this people at all, declares YHWH.

• Jeremiah 42:20

  For you have led yourselves astray at the cost of your souls, when you sent me to YHWH your Elohim, saying, ‘Pray for us to YHWH our Elohim, and according to all that YHWH our Elohim says, so tell us, and we will do it.’

• Jeremiah 50:6

  My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, the mountains have made them wayward; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their resting place.

• Ezekiel 14:11

  so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from following me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions, but they will be my people, and I will be their Elohim, declares Adonai YHWH.’”

• Ezekiel 44:10

  But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

And 10 more times.