What Does Psalm 34:9 Mean in the King James?

O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

Psalm 34:9 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The verse names the LORD’s people both as “his set-apart ones” and as those who stand in awe of him, then binds that belonging to a promise of no lack.

THE MEANING

The verse names the LORD’s set-apart ones and those who stand in awe of him as the same people. It says that they have no lack.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that having a need means you are beyond the LORD’s care.

THE ROOT

יְראוּ

yirʾû

GROWS FROM

ירא

y-r-ʾ

to fear, revere, stand in awe

The word includes reverence and awe alongside fear. This root appears first in the command and again in “them that fear him,” making awe the defining posture of those promised no lack.

ALSO GROWS

yirʾāh: awe, fear, reverence

יִרְאָה

This noun makes explicit the reverence held within the command to fear the LORD.

yārēʾ: one who fears or stands in awe

יָרֵא

This form names the person whose relation to the LORD is shaped by the same root.

מַחְסוֹר

maḥsôr

GROWS FROM

חסר

ḥ-s-r

to lack, be diminished

The word translated “want” means lack or need: ⁨מַחְסוֹר⁩ (maḥsôr, “lack”) grows from ⁨חסר⁩ (ḥ-s-r, “to lack”). The same root appears in the next verse, where lack becomes the contrast between hungry lions and those who seek the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāsēr: lacking, deficient

חָסֵר

This form makes clear that the root describes a state of having something absent.

yaḥserû: they lack

יַחְסְרוּ

This form appears in Psalm 34:10, where the verse says that those who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.

קְדֹשָׁיו

qedoshav

GROWS FROM

קדש

q-d-sh

to set apart, consecrate

The Hebrew names the “saints” as ⁨קְדֹשָׁיו⁩ (qedoshav, “his set-apart ones”). The possessive ending points to belonging to the LORD, and the verse places this belonging beside awe and the promise of no lack.

ALSO GROWS

qādōsh: set apart, sacred

קָדוֹשׁ

This adjective carries the quality named in the verse’s “his set-apart ones.”

qōdesh: set-apartness, sacredness

קֹדֶשׁ

This noun shows the shared root behind the identity of those called the LORD’s own.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s care is joined to those who orient themselves toward him, so lack does not define them.

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1 · KJVThe shepherd image makes the LORD himself the source of provision and echoes this verse’s promise against lack.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33 · KJVJesus joins seeking God’s governance and alignment with the promise that “all these things” are added.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 · KJVThis names God as the one who supplies every need, echoing the claim that those who fear him do not lack.

THE THREAD

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

Psalm 34:10 · KJV

⁨מַחְסוֹר⁩ (maḥsôr, “lack”) in this verse and ⁨יַחְסְרוּ⁩ (yaḥserû, “they lack”) in the next grow from ⁨חסר⁩ (ḥ-s-r, “to lack”). The next verse gives the root a vivid contrast: even young lions experience lack, while those who seek the LORD “shall not want any good thing.”

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