“Nada me faltará”

The Shepherd’s Psalm

Few texts in the Hebrew Bible have crossed languages and cultures as powerfully as Psalm 23. Its opening verse is recited at gravesides, whispered in hospital beds, sung in churches and cathedrals, and spoken quietly in moments of fear. The image of God as shepherd, tending, guiding, and guarding His flock, resonates across time as both intimate and exalted.

Yet the very first line, though seemingly simple, contains a world of meaning. In English tradition it reads: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” In Spanish, the Reina-Valera translation gives: “El Señor es mi pastor; nada me faltará.” Both are faithful to the Hebrew, but each reverberates differently in the ears of their communities. In English, particularly to modern readers, “I shall not want” suggests provision, God as the one who satisfies material need. In Spanish, “nada me faltará” is heard as stability: nothing will fail me, nothing will cause me to falter, I will not stumble.

This divergence is not a matter of mistranslation but of cultural resonance. The Hebrew text, YHWH ro‘i, lo’ ’echsar, literally declares: “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not lack.”¹ The Septuagint echoes with ouden me husterēsei—“nothing will fall short for me”²—while the Vulgate renders nihil mihi deerit—“nothing will be lacking to me.”³ Both ancient traditions stress sufficiency, not luxury. But across centuries of linguistic change, “want” in English has shifted toward desire, while faltar in Spanish retains shades of absence, deficiency, even faltering. The theological center remains the same, but the pastoral note that each language strikes is distinct.

This study will explore that divergence in depth. Beginning with the Hebrew verb ḥāsar and its renderings in Greek and Latin, we will turn to the Spanish and English traditions to examine how language, culture, and theology interact. Alongside, the Pauline epistles will provide a crucial corrective to modern consumerist mishearings: “want” in its biblical sense has little to do with wealth and everything to do with sufficiency in God’s grace.

Notes

¹ Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1907), 341.
² Alfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1935), Ps. 22:1 (LXX numbering).
³ Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ed. Robert Weber and Roger Gryson, 5th ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007), Ps. 22:1 (Vulgate numbering).

The Hebrew Text: lo’ ’echsar

The theological weight of Psalm 23 rests first on its Hebrew grammar. The verse reads:

יְהוָ֥ה רֹעִ֗י לֹ֣א אֶחְסָֽר׃
YHWH ro‘i, lo’ ’echsar.

Literally: “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not lack.” The crucial verb, ’echsar (אֶחְסָר), is the first-person imperfect of ḥāsar (חָסַר), whose semantic field includes “to be lacking, to diminish, to be without, to fail.”¹

The verb is used widely across the Hebrew Bible. In Deuteronomy 2:7, the wilderness generation is reminded that though they wandered forty years, they “lacked nothing” (lo’ ḥasarta davar).² Similarly, in Nehemiah 9:21, God “did not let them lack” (lo’ ḥasru) anything. The usage does not suggest prosperity but stability: their clothing did not wear out, their feet did not swell, their needs were met. In Proverbs 13:25, the righteous “has enough to satisfy his appetite” while the wicked “lacks” (yeḥsar) food.³ Again, the emphasis falls not on excess but on sufficiency.

The psalmist’s choice of ḥāsar therefore signals more than abundance. It implies that under the care of the Shepherd, there will be no deficiency, no falling short, no diminishment that threatens survival. The image is pastoral rather than royal: sheep are not promised riches but steady provision and safe paths. This resonates with Israel’s agrarian worldview, in which the shepherd’s task was not to multiply luxuries but to guard, feed, and guide his flock with vigilance.

Equally significant is the negative particle lo’. By saying “I will not lack,” the psalmist speaks in the strongest terms: deficiency is excluded, failure is impossible under the Shepherd’s watch. The certainty is covenantal, rooted not in the sheep’s ability to secure itself but in the Shepherd’s faithfulness.

Thus, from the very first line, the Hebrew text establishes a theology of sufficiency. The God who shepherds does not promise luxury, but He ensures that His flock will not falter or fail. This baseline sets the stage for the psalm’s unfolding imagery of green pastures, still waters, and right paths.

Notes

¹ Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1907), 341.
² The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1917), Deut. 2:7.
³ Ibid., Prov. 13:25.

The Septuagint and Vulgate

The earliest translations of Psalm 23 confirm and amplify the Hebrew text’s emphasis on sufficiency rather than abundance. The Septuagint, produced in the Hellenistic period for Jews of the diaspora, renders the verse:

Κύριος ποιμαίνει με, καὶ οὐδὲν με ὑστερήσει.
Kyrios poimainei me, kai ouden me husterēsei.

“The Lord shepherds me, and nothing will be lacking to me.” The key verb here, hysterēsei (ὑστερήσει), comes from hystereō—“to fall short, fail, lack.”¹ This is the same word Paul later uses in Romans 3:23: “all have sinned and fall short (hysterountai) of the glory of God.” The nuance is striking. To say ouden me husterēsei is not to claim prosperity but to confess that under the Shepherd’s care, there will be no deficiency, no falling short of what is necessary for life and faith.

The Latin Vulgate follows the Septuagint closely:

Dominus regit me, et nihil mihi deerit.

“The Lord rules me, and nothing will be lacking to me.” The verb deerit (from deesse) means “to be missing, to fail, to be absent.”² Jerome’s choice of regit for the Hebrew “shepherds” (ro‘i) also underscores governance: the Shepherd is not merely caretaker but ruler. The verse thereby blends guidance with provision, care with sovereignty.

Both traditions, Greek and Latin, sustain the Hebrew’s central claim: the psalmist will not falter or fail. The LXX strengthens the sense by evoking the language of “falling short,” and the Vulgate by emphasizing that nothing essential will be missing. Together, they testify to a theology of stability, not prosperity—a God who guards against deficiency rather than promising opulence.

Notes

¹ Alfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1935), Ps. 22:1 (LXX numbering).
² Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ed. Robert Weber and Roger Gryson, 5th ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007), Ps. 22:1 (Vulgate numbering).

The Spanish Tradition: “Nada me faltará”

When the psalm entered the Spanish-speaking world through the Reina-Valera Bible of 1602, its opening line became: “Jehová es mi pastor; nada me faltará.” In the modern 1960 revision still used across the Hispanic world, it reads: “El Señor es mi pastor; nada me faltará.”

The verb faltar in Spanish has a broad semantic range. Its most common meaning is “to lack, to be missing,” closely aligned with the Hebrew ḥāsar and the Greek hystereō.¹ But it also carries connotations of “to fail, to falter, to stumble, to fall short.”² This range allows the Spanish rendering to communicate not only provision (“nothing will be lacking to me”) but also stability (“I will not falter, I will not stumble”).

This is more than a linguistic curiosity. In communities historically marked by poverty, exile, and subjugation, “nada me faltará” resonates as a promise of sustenance and endurance. The Shepherd is not glorified primarily as a provider of abundance but as the one who ensures that His flock does not collapse under the weight of hardship. The cultural register therefore aligns closely with the pastoral setting of the psalm itself: the sheep are not promised wealth, but they are promised that under the Shepherd’s guidance they will not fail.

The nuance of faltar also harmonizes with the psalm’s unfolding imagery. The Shepherd leads the sheep beside still waters, along right paths, through the valley of shadow. Each image is one of steadying presence and secure direction. The sheep are kept from faltering precisely because the Shepherd guides and guards their every step. The Spanish ear thus hears in “nada me faltará” both the assurance of provision and the promise of stability—a dual emphasis that captures the heartbeat of the psalm.

Notes

¹ Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed. (Madrid: Espasa, 2014), s.v. “faltar.”
² Ibid.; cf. María Moliner, Diccionario de uso del español (Madrid: Gredos, 2007), 1412–1413.

The English Tradition: “I Shall Not Want”

The King James Version of 1611 famously renders Psalm 23:1: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” In its original context, this translation was faithful to the Hebrew. The English verb “want” in Early Modern usage meant “to lack” or “to be without.”¹ Thus, “I shall not want” was understood to mean “I will not lack,” precisely echoing the Hebrew lo’ ’echsar.

Over time, however, English usage shifted. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, “want” increasingly denoted not absence but desire, as in “I want this or that.”² Today, most English readers hear “want” in the register of longing or craving, rather than deficiency. The shift produces a profound distortion: what was once a confession of sufficiency under the Shepherd’s care is now easily misread as a promise of fulfilled desires.

This distortion has found fertile soil in modern consumer culture, where “want” is nearly synonymous with appetite. For some interpreters, the psalmist’s words can sound like a pledge of prosperity, God as the guarantor of provision and abundance.³ In this sense, “I shall not want” risks being co-opted into the logic of the so-called prosperity gospel, where blessing is equated with material wealth.

Yet the older sense remains the true one. The psalmist is not claiming that the Shepherd will supply every desire, but that under His care, nothing essential will be missing. The line speaks not of abundance but of stability, not of luxury but of sufficiency. Recovering this meaning requires both an awareness of linguistic drift and a return to the cultural world of the shepherd: the sheep are not promised indulgence, only that their needs will not fall short under the watchful eye of their guide.

Notes

¹ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), s.v. “want.”
² Raymond Williams, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), 334–35.
³ Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 10–12.

Paul’s Theology of Sufficiency

The ambiguity of “want” in English, and the fuller resonance of faltar in Spanish, both come into sharper focus when read alongside Paul’s theology of sufficiency. For Paul, the Christian life is not measured in abundance but in contentment, not in prosperity but in grace.

In Philippians 4, Paul makes this point explicitly: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:11–13, KJV). Here the apostle testifies that true sufficiency lies not in material circumstances but in Christ’s sustaining presence. God supplies not every desire, but every need “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).

The same truth resounds in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where the risen Lord assures Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response is to “boast in his infirmities,” embracing weakness as the place where divine strength is revealed. For Paul, “lack” is not deficiency to be feared but the very arena in which grace proves sufficient.

Paul’s own life underscores this theology. Far from embodying wealth as divine blessing, he lived as a wandering apostle—often hungry, shipwrecked, imprisoned, beaten (2 Cor. 11:23–28). He was, in his own words, “poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:10). For him, “want” was never measured in terms of prosperity but always in terms of sufficiency in Christ.

Thus, when Psalm 23 is read through the Pauline lens, the danger of mishearing “I shall not want” as a promise of material abundance is exposed. The psalmist’s confession aligns perfectly with Paul’s: under the Shepherd’s care, no essential grace will be lacking, no step will falter, no need will remain unmet in God’s sustaining presence.

Notes

¹ The Holy Bible, King James Version (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1769), Phil. 4:11–13, 19.
² Ibid., 2 Cor. 12:9.
³ Ibid., 2 Cor. 6:10.
⁴ Ibid., 2 Cor. 11:23–28.

Theological Synthesis

The trajectory of Psalm 23:1 across Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, and English shows remarkable fidelity in form yet diverse resonance in reception. At the heart stands the Hebrew lo’ ’echsar—“I will not lack”—a declaration of sufficiency under divine shepherding. The Septuagint strengthens this with ouden me husterēsei—“nothing will fall short for me,” echoing Paul’s later use of hystereō to describe humanity’s universal deficiency before God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).¹ Jerome’s Vulgate, nihil mihi deerit, sustains the emphasis on absence and deficiency, underscoring that nothing essential will be missing under God’s rule.²

When the psalm crossed into Spanish, nada me faltará preserved the original meaning but allowed additional resonance: not only that nothing would be lacking, but also that the believer would not falter, stumble, or fail.³ The pastoral imagery of the Shepherd—leading sheep along safe paths, guarding their every step—naturally dovetails with this nuance. In cultures shaped by scarcity and oppression, faltar evokes the assurance of stability, God as the one who prevents collapse.

English, by contrast, has undergone semantic drift. “I shall not want,” once faithful, now tempts misreading in consumer cultures where “want” signifies desire rather than deficiency. In such contexts, the verse can be heard as a promise of prosperity, God as guarantor of abundance.⁴ This mishearing risks distorting the psalm into a charter for the prosperity gospel, a theology alien to both the Hebrew shepherd metaphor and the apostolic witness.

Here Paul’s theology provides the necessary corrective. The apostle insists that sufficiency lies not in provision of desires but in the grace of Christ, which proves sufficient in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).⁵ He teaches contentment in both abundance and want (Phil. 4:11–12), for in either state, God’s provision is stability, not luxury. In this light, “I shall not want” and “nada me faltará” converge: both mean that under the Shepherd’s care, the believer will not falter, will not fall short, will not be left deficient in the grace necessary for life and faith.

Thus, the theological synthesis is clear. The psalm’s first line does not promise prosperity but sufficiency; not indulgence, but stability; not fulfilled desires, but the assurance that under the Shepherd’s rule, no essential grace will be missing. The sheep may be hungry or full, wandering or secure, but they are always guided, guarded, and sustained. That is the true promise of Psalm 23:1.

Notes

¹ Alfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1935), Ps. 22:1; cf. Rom. 3:23.
² Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ed. Robert Weber and Roger Gryson, 5th ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007), Ps. 22:1.
³ Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed. (Madrid: Espasa, 2014), s.v. “faltar.”
⁴ Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 10–12.
⁵ The Holy Bible, King James Version (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1769), 2 Cor. 12:9.

Pastoral Application

The resonance of Psalm 23:1 extends beyond philology into lived faith. The Shepherd’s promise of sufficiency carries distinct implications depending on one’s cultural and personal circumstances, yet it unites both rich and poor in a common confession of dependence.

For those living in contexts of wealth, the verse dismantles illusions of self-sufficiency. To say, “I shall not want” is not to baptize consumer abundance but to confess that true stability comes from the Shepherd, not possessions. Jesus Himself warned that life does not consist “in the abundance of things which [one] possesses” (Luke 12:15).¹ The psalm reminds the wealthy that stability cannot be purchased, nor can sufficiency be secured apart from God’s care. The Shepherd alone guards the flock from ultimate deficiency.

For those living in poverty or hardship, the verse offers profound comfort. “Nada me faltará” assures believers that even when resources are scarce, they will not falter or fail under the Shepherd’s guidance. As in the wilderness narratives, where Israel’s clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell (Deut. 8:4),² God’s provision is measured not in luxury but in sustaining grace. The assurance is not prosperity but preservation—the Shepherd ensures that His sheep will endure.

In both cases, the psalm redirects the believer from material preoccupation to divine sufficiency. It frames human existence in terms of covenantal dependence: the sheep’s flourishing lies not in self-direction but in following the Shepherd’s lead. The pastoral imagery insists that sufficiency is relational, not transactional. The sheep do not secure their own provision; they trust the Shepherd who guides them to green pastures and still waters.

Thus, the pastoral application of Psalm 23:1 is universal. To the wealthy, it warns against mistaking abundance for security. To the poor, it promises that sufficiency will not fail. To all, it declares that the Shepherd’s care is the ground of stability, the assurance that nothing essential will be lacking.

Notes

¹ The Holy Bible, King James Version (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1769), Luke 12:15.
² The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1917), Deut. 8:4.

The Sufficiency of Grace

Psalm 23:1, in all its translations, declares the sufficiency of God’s shepherding care. The Hebrew lo’ ’echsar affirms that nothing essential will be lacking; the Greek ouden me husterēsei and the Latin nihil mihi deerit echo the same truth. The Spanish nada me faltará captures not only the absence of deficiency but also the assurance of stability: I will not falter, I will not fail. The English I shall not want, once faithful, has drifted in modern ears toward desire, risking distortion in consumer cultures where abundance is mistaken for blessing.

Read through Paul, the verse regains its balance. Sufficiency is not measured by possessions but by grace. The Shepherd does not promise prosperity but presence; not indulgence but stability; not the fulfillment of every craving but the assurance that in Him, nothing essential is missing. Paul’s own testimony of contentment in both hunger and abundance (Phil. 4:11–12) and Christ’s word of sufficiency—“My grace is enough for you” (2 Cor. 12:9)—bring Psalm 23 into its full theological focus.

The pastoral wisdom of the psalm, therefore, speaks across all contexts: to the wealthy, it warns against confusing possessions with stability; to the poor, it comforts with the assurance that God sustains through scarcity; to all, it calls for trust in the Shepherd whose care prevents deficiency, faltering, or failure.

To confess, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want / nada me faltará”, is to rest in covenantal sufficiency. The sheep may wander through green pastures or dark valleys, but they will not falter, for the Shepherd leads, provides, and sustains. That is the promise of Psalm 23:1: stability in God’s presence, sufficiency in His grace, and security in His care.

om tat sat