תָּעָה

Genesis 20:13 הִתְע֣וּ they caused to wander

So when God had me journey from my father’s house, I said to Sarah, ‘This is how you can show your loyalty to me: Wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

Genesis 21:14 וַתֵּ֔תַע and she wandered

Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

Here: 'And she strayed.' She had no clear route and lost her bearings, like a stray animal. There is no moral sense of sin here.

Genesis 37:15 תֹעֶ֖ה [he was] wandering

a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?”

Exodus 23:4 תֹּעֶ֑ה wandering off

If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

Here: "Wandering": a participle, so the animal is caught in the act of drifting off, lost and getting further from home. The same verb is used elsewhere of people who "go astray" like sheep (Isa 53:6; Ps 119:176).

2 Kings 21:9 וַיַּתְעֵ֤ם and he misled them

But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

Here: 'And he made them wander off.' The verb pictures a lost animal or a traveller who has left the road. Manasseh is the one who steered them off the path; the people's refusal and the king's misleading are set side by side.

2 Chronicles 33:9 וַיֶּ֣תַע and he misled

So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

Here: Causative form: Manasseh made the people wander off the road, like a shepherd who drives the flock away from safe pasture. The 'and' ties this result directly to the conditional promise in v.8: Yahweh would keep Israel in the land *if* they kept Moses' instruction, and Manasseh led them the other way.

Job 12:24 וַ֝יַּתְעֵ֗ם and he made wander them

He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

Job 12:25 וַ֝יַּתְעֵ֗ם and he made wander them

They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.

Job 15:31 נִתְעָ֑ה he has been led astray

Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.

Here: From a verb for wandering off the path, like a lost animal or a drunk man staggering. The passive form means 'he has been made to stray' or 'he has let himself stray'. It is grammatically loose in the line, so translators attach it differently: 'him that is deceived' (KJV), 'deceiving himself' (BSB, WEB), 'he has been deceived' (YLT).

Job 38:41 יִ֝תְע֗וּ they will wander about

Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

Here: 'They stagger' or 'they wander about'. The verb is used of drunkards reeling (Isa 28:7) and of people lost in a wasteland. Here it pictures weak, hungry young birds flapping and lurching about.

Psalm 58:3 תָּע֥וּ they go astray

The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.

Here: They have wandered off the path, like a lost animal or a lost traveller. Here it means moral straying: they have never walked the right road.

Psalm 95:10 תֹּעֵ֣י [who] go astray of

For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”

Here: 'Strayers of', a participle (a verb used like a noun or adjective) tied to the next word. It pictures animals wandering off from the flock, or travellers lost off the road. As a participle it describes a habit, not a single slip.

Psalm 107:4 תָּע֣וּ they wandered about

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.

Psalm 107:40 וַ֝יַּתְעֵ֗ם and he made wander them

He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

Here: God causes them to wander, stray or stagger. The verb is used for lost travellers, staggering drunkards and people led astray. Their loss of direction is both physical and mental.

Psalm 119:110 תָעִֽיתִי׃ I have gone astray

The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from Your precepts.

Here: 'I have wandered / gone astray.' The verb is used for sheep that drift off, travellers who lose their way and drunkards who stagger. The verb form presents it as a completed fact: up to now he has not wandered off the path where the traps were waiting.

Psalm 119:176 תָּעִ֗יתִי I have gone astray

I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.

Here: "I have wandered off." It is the word for an animal that drifts away from the flock, and it is also used for moral error. It is the first word of the line because each line of this last stanza has to begin with tav (ת), the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Proverbs 7:25 תֵּ֝תַע it go astray

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

Here: "Do not wander", addressed to "you" (second person masculine singular). The verb pictures a lost sheep or a traveler who has lost the track. What started as an inner leaning in line one has now become actual, aimless wandering.

Proverbs 10:17 מַתְעֶֽה׃ [is] leading astray

Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who ignores reproof goes astray.

Here: A causative form of taʿah, 'to stray, wander off', used of lost sheep or a drunk staggering. Taken strictly it means 'makes (someone) wander': he leads others off the road. It may also mean he strays himself. See debates.

Proverbs 12:26 תַּתְעֵֽם׃ it misleads them

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray.

Here: 'Makes them wander': the subject is the wicked people's own road. The word pictures being lost, like a stray sheep or a traveler who has lost the path. 'Them' most naturally means the wicked themselves, though it could include anyone who follows them.

Proverbs 14:22 יִ֭תְעוּ do they go astray

Do not those who contrive evil go astray? But those who plan goodness find loving devotion and faithfulness.

Here: 'They wander off', like a lost animal or a traveller off the road. The verb is ongoing or future in force: they are straying and will end up lost. Proverbs pictures life as a path, so straying means both moral error and coming to ruin.

Proverbs 21:16 תּ֭וֹעֶה [who] wanders

The man who strays from the path of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

Here: A participle, describing an ongoing condition: someone who keeps on wandering, like a lost animal or a drunk weaving off the road. The picture is drifting off course, not one wrong turn.

Isaiah 3:12 מַתְעִ֔ים [are] misleading

Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.

Here: 'Making [you] wander.' The root is used for straying animals and staggering drunks (Isaiah 28:7). The guides are not merely mistaken: they actively lead the people off course.

Isaiah 9:16 מַתְעִ֑ים misleading

For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up.

Isaiah 16:8 תָּ֣עוּ they wandered

For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.

Isaiah 19:13 הִתְע֥וּ they have misled

The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

Isaiah 19:14 וְהִתְע֤וּ כְּהִתָּע֥וֹת and they have misled, as is made to stagger

The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

Here: "And they made (Egypt) wander." The subject "they" most naturally refers to the princes and leading men of v. 13, who were already said to have "led Egypt astray" with the same verb.

Isaiah 21:4 תָּעָ֣ה it has wandered

My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.

Here: The word for a person who has lost the way or reels like a drunk (Isaiah uses it of drunken staggering in 19:14 and 28:7). It stands first, so the sentence opens on the collapse: the prophet's inner self has lost its footing.

Isaiah 28:7 תָּע֑וּ תָּעוּ֙ they staggered

These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.

Here: "They wandered off." It is the word for a lost sheep or a traveller off the road. In Isaiah it is also used for leaders who lead the people astray (3:12; 9:16).

Isaiah 29:24 תֹֽעֵי־ [those who] go astray of

Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

Here: An active participle in a bound phrase: 'the wanderers of'. Isaiah uses the same verb for drunk priests and prophets who reel (28:7) and for a drunkard who staggers (19:14). The picture is people who are lost and dizzy, not just mistaken.

Isaiah 30:28 מַתְעֶ֔ה [which] leads astray

His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

Here: A causative participle: 'making (them) wander'. The bridle does not guide the animal home. It steers it off the road and into disaster.

Isaiah 35:8 יִתְעֽוּ׃ they will wander about

And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

Here: To stray, get lost, or stagger about. The verb is used for lost sheep and for drunkards (Isa 28:7), and in a moral sense for being led astray (Isa 3:12; 53:6, 'we all like sheep have gone astray').

Isaiah 47:15 תָּע֔וּ they have wandered

This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

Isaiah 53:6 תָּעִ֔ינוּ we have gone astray

We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.

Here: "We have wandered": the aimless drifting of an animal that has lost the herd and the shepherd, with the moral sense of going wrong. The perfect tense presents it as a fact the speakers now admit.

Isaiah 63:17 תַתְעֵ֤נוּ do you make wander us

Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

Here: A causative form: 'you make us wander.' The picture is a flock drifting off the road. Just before this (vv. 11–14), God was remembered as the shepherd who led his flock through the sea without stumbling. The verb is in the incomplete-action form, so the straying is still going on: 'you keep making us wander.'

Jeremiah 23:13 וַיַּתְע֥וּ and they caused to err

“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Jeremiah 23:32 וַיַּתְע֣וּ and they caused to err

“Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD.

Here: "And they made [my people] wander": a causative form. The picture is a flock led off the path, or a drunk man staggering. The same verb is used of Samaria's Baal-prophets in v. 13.

Jeremiah 42:20 הִתְעֵיתֶם֮ you caused to err

For you have deceived yourselves by sending me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD our God on our behalf, and as for all that the LORD our God says, tell it to us and we will do it.’

Here: The picture is of someone wandering off the road and getting lost. The form is normally causative ('cause to stray'), so it can mean 'you have misled yourselves' or simply 'you have gone badly astray'. The past form treats the error as already committed.

Jeremiah 50:6 הִתְע֔וּם they have caused to wander them

My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.

Here: A causative form, 'they made them wander'. The verb puts the blame on the leaders: the flock did not drift off unaided.

Ezekiel 14:11 יִתְע֨וּ they will wander

in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Here: The picture of an animal drifting off from its herd or a person losing the path. Here it describes Israel drifting away from following YHWH toward other gods.

Ezekiel 44:10 בִּתְע֤וֹת תָּע֣וּ when went astray, they went astray

Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who wandered away from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their iniquity.

Here: 'When Israel strayed', literally 'in the straying of Israel'. The verb is used for lost sheep and staggering drunks. The Levites did not resist the nation's drift into idolatry; they went along with it.

Ezekiel 44:15 בִּתְע֤וֹת when went astray

But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

Here: 'When … went astray.' The word pictures wandering off like lost sheep or staggering like a drunk. In this chapter it means going after idols (44:10).

Ezekiel 48:11 תָע֗וּ בִּתְעוֹת֙ תָּע֖וּ they went astray, when went astray

It will be for the consecrated priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept My charge and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray.

Hosea 4:12 הִתְעָ֔ה it has misled

My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.

Here: 'Has made them wander', used of sheep straying off and of drunks staggering (Isaiah 19:14; 28:7; Job 12:25). Coming right after verse 11's wine that 'takes away the heart', it pictures a people reeling off the road under a drunken compulsion.

Amos 2:4 וַיַּתְעוּם֙ and they have misled them

This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.

Here: 'And they made them wander': the lies are the active subject. The picture is of being led off the road, like a lost animal or a staggering drunk.

Micah 3:5 הַמַּתְעִ֣ים who mislead

This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:

Here: "The ones making [my people] wander off." The picture is of a flock or a traveller sent off the path. This is the charge in summary, and the rest of the verse explains it.