Bible word study

Shagah (Strong’s H7686): Meaning in the Bible

Shagah (שָׁגָה) is the Hebrew word numbered H7686 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to stray (causatively, mislead), usually (figuratively) to mistake, especially (morally) to transgress; by extension (through the idea of intoxication) to reel, (figuratively) be enraptured. In the King James Bible it is translated (cause to) go astray, deceive, err, be ravished, sin through ignorance.

• Original wordשָׁגָה
• Transliterationshâgâh
• Pronunciationshaw-gaw'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH7686
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Shagah appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Shagah (H7686) stands behind 21 English renderings in 19 verses across 9 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Proverbs (6), Job (3), Psalms (3).

How the King James Bible renders Shagah, by count

• erred6 of 21 (29 percent)
• err4 of 21 (19 percent)
• astray2 of 21 (10 percent)
• ravished2 of 21 (10 percent)
• wander2 of 21 (10 percent)
• deceived1 of 21 (5 percent)

Three places to read Shagah

• Leviticus 4:13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
• Job 19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
• Proverbs 5:23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Shagah in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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