Hebrew word · H2639

חֶ֫סֶר

cheser

poverty

Want, lack, need, poverty. It comes from chaser, 'to lack, be short of'. The noun is very rare (here and Job 30:3, of men gaunt 'with want'). Proverbs usually uses the related noun machsor (11:24; 14:23; 21:5; 22:16; 28:27).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

poverty, want

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 28:22

Range of meaning

Want, lack, need, poverty. It comes from chaser, 'to lack, be short of'. The noun is very rare (here and Job 30:3, of men gaunt 'with want'). Proverbs usually uses the related noun machsor (11:24; 14:23; 21:5; 22:16; 28:27).

Against the English

'Poverty' (BSB, KJV, WEB, ESV, NIV, NLT) or 'want' (YLT, NASB). 'Want' is closer: the word is about lacking, the shortfall itself, rather than a social class.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 28:27, five verses later: 'Whoever gives to the poor will not lack (machsor)'. That is the same root and the same logic, seen from the generous side.

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 30:3 בְּחֶ֥סֶר in poverty

    Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 28:22 חֶ֥סֶר poverty

    A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.

    Here: 'Want, lack.' A rare noun from the root 'to lack'. It is the exact opposite of what he is chasing: he runs after hon ('enough, substance') and gets cheser ('not enough').

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.