Bible Dictionary
LACK
Lack means want, need, deficiency, or being without something necessary. Scripture uses the term for material need as well as shortcomings or things that remain incomplete.
Definition
Lack means want, need, deficiency, or being without something. It may describe material need, absence, insufficiency, or something that remains incomplete.
Biblical Usage
The biblical versions use “lack” and related expressions for want, need, being destitute, and that which is missing or behind. The term may concern either material circumstances or a deficiency in a matter.
Historical Background
The New Testament includes terms meaning “to be behind” and “to be in want,” while Old Testament usage includes words for lack and nothing.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(forms of chacer, "to lack," ayin, "nought"): This word in its various forms has the usual meaning of "want," "need," "deficiency." There is but little change in the use of the word in the different versions. Sometimes one of the common synonyms is exchanged for the word itself, e.g. in the Old Testament, 1Sa 21:15 the Revised Version (British and American) has "lack" ("Do I lack madmen?") where the King James Version has "need of"; Pr 5:23, "for lack," instead of "without"; 6:32, "void of" for "lacketh"; 10:21, "lack" for "want"; 31:11, "lack" for "need"; Isa 59:15, "lacking" for "faileth." In the New Testament "lack" is the translation of hustereo, literally, "to be behind," and endees, "in want." In Lu 8:6, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "had no" instead of "lacked" in the King James Version. In 2Co 11:9, the Revised Version gives "my want" for "which was lacking to me" in the King James Version; in Col 1:24 "that which is lacking" for "that which is behind"; Jas 2:15 "lack" for "destitute." It will readily be seen that sometimes the slight variation helps to explain the meaning.</p><p>G. H. Gerberding</p>