The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
poor and needy--primarily, the exiles in Babylon. water--figuratively, refreshment, prosperity after their affliction. The language is so constructed as only very partially to apply to the local and temporary event of the restoration from Babylon; but fully to be realized in the waters of life and of the Spirit, under the Gospel (Isa 30:25; Isa 44:3; Joh 7:37-39; Joh 4:14). God wrought no miracles that we read of, in any wilderness, during the return from Babylon. faileth--rather, "is rigid" or parched [HORSLEY].
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.