Word study
Lack
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: lack, lacking, lacks, lacked. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “lack” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָסֵר châsêrneedy, lacking, in want oftranslated this way 17 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H2638Adjective · Translated: lacks 10, lacking 4, lack 2, need 1Full study and all 18 verses →
2 Samuel 3:29 May it whirl over the head of Joab and over the entire house of his father, and may the house of Joab never be without one having a discharge or skin disease, or one who leans on a staff or falls by the sword or lacks food.”
1 Kings 11:22 But Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”
- חָסֵר châsêrlack, need, be lacking, decreasetranslated this way 10 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H2637Verb · Translated: lack 4, lacked 3, run dry 2, lacks 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Genesis 18:28 suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”
Deuteronomy 2:7 Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
- אַיִן ayinnothing, noughttranslated this way 8 times of its 744 uses · Strong’s H369Adverb · Translated: there is no 55, no 54, without 54, nothing 40Full study and all 660 verses →
- בְּלִי belîwearing outtranslated this way 6 times of its 55 uses · Strong’s H1097Adverb · Translated: without 16, lack 6, accidentally 3, nothing 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Job 4:11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
Isaiah 5:13 Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 4 times of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
- מַחְסוֹר machsôrneed, thing needed, povertytranslated this way 3 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H4270Noun · Translated: need 4, poverty 3, lack 2, become poor 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Judges 18:10 When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has delivered it into your hand. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”
Psalm 34:9 Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.
- חֹסֶר chôserwant, lacktranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2640Noun · Translated: lack 2, destitution 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:57 the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates.
Amos 4:6 “I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑστερέω hysteréōI am lacking, fall short, suffer needtranslated this way 5 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G5302Verb · Translated: lack 3, need 3Full study and all 16 verses →
Matthew 19:20 “All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “There is one thing you lack: Go, sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
- λείπω leípōI am wanting, am left behindtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3007Verb · Translated: lack 1, unfinished 1, everything they need 1, lacking 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 18:22 On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
James 1:4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
- ὑστέρημα hystérēmathat which is lacking, povertytranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G5303Noun · Translated: lacking 3, need 2, needs 2, poverty 1Full study and all 8 verses →
1 Corinthians 16:17 I am glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you.
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.