Shagah can describe straying, error, misleading or being captivated, and the surrounding passage determines the evaluation. Deuteronomy condemns causing a blind person to wander in the road, placing responsibility on the one who misleads.
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Full entry for שָׁגָה (H7686) · Open the biblical lexicon
Shagah can describe straying, error, misleading or being captivated, and the surrounding passage determines the evaluation. Deuteronomy condemns causing a blind person to wander in the road, placing responsibility on the one who misleads.
The BSB source-word alignment has 21 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include who stray (2), and the deceiver [are His] (1), be captivated (1), error (1), He who leads (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 4:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (6), Isaiah (3), Job (3), Psalms (3).
Shagah can describe straying, error, misleading or being captivated, and the surrounding passage determines the evaluation. Deuteronomy condemns causing a blind person to wander in the road, placing responsibility on the one who misleads. Leviticus addresses the whole congregation's unintentional error and the response when the matter becomes known. Ezekiel describes God's scattered flock with no one searching for it, within a rebuke of negligent shepherds.
Proverbs 5 uses the verb positively for being captivated by a wife's love and negatively in the following question about an adulteress. A shared verb does not make both objects morally identical. Psalm 119 turns the language into prayer not to stray from God's commandments. These uses permit teaching about accountable guidance, unnoticed communal wrong, faithful care and committed affection without reducing every movement to deliberate rebellion.
They also withhold permission to blame neglected people, exploit disability or make marital poetry a demand for coerced intimacy.
Selected straying and captivation forms distinguish a misleading guide, unnoticed communal error, neglected sheep, affirmed marital love, forbidden captivation and prayer to remain within God's instruction.
‘Cursed is he who lets a blind man wander in the road.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
The curse targets one who lets a blind person wander in the road, requiring responsibility from the guide rather than blame of the blind person.
Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the Lord’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden,
The whole congregation strays unintentionally and the matter escapes notice; the following instructions address the wrong when it becomes known.
My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’
The flock is scattered with no one seeking it, within God's indictment of shepherds who have failed to strengthen, heal and gather.
A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
Captivation by the wife's love is welcomed within the instruction to rejoice in her, retaining the positive object of affection.
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
The next verse questions captivation by an adulteress, so the verb's shared form does not erase its different object and evaluation.
With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.
The worshiper joins wholehearted seeking with prayer not to stray from the commandments, expressing dependence rather than self-certainty.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. to stray (causatively, mislead ), usually (figuratively) to mistake , especially (morally) to transgress ; by extension (through the idea of intoxication) to reel , (figuratively) be enraptured
to stray (causatively, mislead), usually (figuratively) to mistake, especially (morally) to transgress; by extension (through the idea of intoxication) to reel, (figuratively) be enraptured BDB: go astray Usage: (cause to) go astray, deceive, err, be ravished, sin through ignorance, (let, make to) wander.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
שָׁגָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Ezekiel 34 describes a flock scattered without anyone searching for it. The surrounding indictment first names the shepherds' failures, so a teacher should not make straying sheep carry the whole blame while ignoring neglected care. Deuteronomy 27 similarly directs its curse toward the person misleading a blind traveler. Leviticus 4 presents communal error that has escaped notice, then gives a response when it becomes known; unintentional does not mean consequence-free, but neither does it mean deliberately defiant.
Proverbs 5 adds an especially important contextual distinction. Captivation by a wife's love is affirmed, while captivation by an adulteress is questioned in the next verse. The word alone cannot decide the moral value of the affection. Psalm 119's prayer expresses wholehearted seeking without confidence that the seeker can guide himself independently. Teaching can therefore join responsible guidance, acknowledgment and repair of unnoticed wrong, renewed care for neglected people and faithful affection, while refusing disability contempt, victim-blaming and sexual pressure.
Ezek.34.6
The witnesses include Qal forms for straying and captivation and Hiphil forms for misleading or causing to stray. Proverbs 5:19-20 repeats the same Qal form with different objects; context supplies the contrasting moral evaluation.
John 10:1-21 presents Jesus as the good shepherd who knows His sheep and lays down His life, contrasting His care with theft and abandonment. This thematic reception of shepherding can accompany Ezekiel's indictment without assigning all suffering to the sheep or equating every present leader with Jesus.