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, Matthew 18:13, 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