Isaiah 41:17
in Isaiah 41The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst; I, Jehovah, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
KJV
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
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This verse in Isaiah 41
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When the poor and needy seek water - Water is often used in the Scriptures as an emblem of the provisions of divine mercy. Bursting fountains in a desert, and flowing streams unexpectedly met with in a dry and thirsty land, are often also employed to denote the comfort and refreshment which the gospel furnishes to sinful and suffering man in his journey through this world. The ‘poor and needy’ here, doubtless refer primarily to the afflicted captives in Babylon.
This site's exposition
The poor and needy seek water
on Isaiah 41:17-18
The evidence turns to compassion, for the poor and needy seek water, but there is none. The LORD answers them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. The supply is generous, rivers on the barren heights, and He will turn the desert into a pool of water.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 17 and following) The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, against poverty, he first sets out the disadvantage of poverty: the needy and the poor, above: their nobles have perished with famine (Isa 5:13); second, the divine intention: I the Lord will hear them: he shall call upon me and I will hear him …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst,....
But doubtless this promise has more than such a private interpretation. Their return out of Babylon was typical of our redemption by Christ; and so the contents of these promises, 1.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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; God wrought no miracles that we read of, in any wilderness, during the return from Babylon. faileth--rather, "is rigid" or parched [HORSLEY].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2696: “Wordless Prayers Heard in Heaven” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
NOTICE, dear Friends, that this double promise to the poor and needy stands in connection with other great promises which guarantee the gift of wonderful strength and blessing to God's people. These promises seem to me to be such as the mightiest servant of God might well desire to have fulfilled in himself. Look, for instance, at the one in the 15th and 16th verses—"Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2696: “Wordless Prayers Heard in Heaven” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
NOTICE, dear Friends, that this double promise to the poor and needy stands in connection with other great promises which guarantee the gift of wonderful strength and blessing to God's people. These promises seem to me to be such as the mightiest servant of God might well desire to have fulfilled in himself. Look, for instance, at the one in the 15th and 16th verses—"Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff. You shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and you shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel." What a great promise that is! How it makes the child of God to participate in the greatness of Jehovah's strength! The picture here drawn is a very remarkable one. Here is a man—a poor, feeble man—so strengthened by God that he not only threshes wheat, but he threshes mountains! Nor does he find that the gigantic enterprise is beyond the strength imparted to him—the rocks and the hills are turned to chaff. Nor is that all that happens to them, for this man, Divinely strengthened, takes up a colossal winnowing fan and sets Alps, Andes, Himalayas flying just like the small dust from the threshing floor! This is grand work and it needs a man of God when he has come to the fullness of his strength through the indwelling of the Spirit of God. Whenever we quote a great promise like that, it usually depresses some little one in the Lord's family. He (or, more likely, she) begins to say, "But what can Ido? I cannot thresh mountains! No, rather, it seems to me that Satan's threshing me and desiring to have me that he may sift me as wheat.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָעֲנִיִּ֨ים | haaniyim | the poor [people] | H6041 → | 73 times |
| וְהָאֶבְיוֹנִ֜ים | vehaevyonim | and the needy [people] | H34 → | 61 times |
| מְבַקְשִׁ֥ים | mevakshim | [are] seeking | H1245 → | 225 times |
| מַ֙יִם֙ | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| וָאַ֔יִן | vaayin | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לְשׁוֹנָ֖ם | leshonam | tongue their | H3956 → | 117 times |
| בַּצָּמָ֣א | batzama' | with <the> thirst | H6772 → | 17 times |
| נָשָׁ֑תָּה | nashatah | it is dry | H5405 → | |
| אֲנִ֤י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶעֱנֵ֔ם | ʾeenem | I will answer them | H6030 → | 331 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֥י | ʾelohei | [the] God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֶעֶזְבֵֽם׃ | ʾeezvem | I will forsake them | H5800 → | 215 times |
הָעֲנִיִּ֨יםthe poor [people]
haaniyimH6041 →73 times
וְהָאֶבְיוֹנִ֜יםand the needy [people]
vehaevyonimH34 →61 times
מְבַקְשִׁ֥ים[are] seeking
mevakshimH1245 →225 times
מַ֙יִם֙water
mayimH4325 →581 times
וָאַ֔יִןand there not
vaayinH369 →789 times
לְשׁוֹנָ֖םtongue their
leshonamH3956 →117 times
בַּצָּמָ֣אwith <the> thirst
batzama'H6772 →17 times
נָשָׁ֑תָּהit is dry
nashatahH5405 →
אֲנִ֤יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶעֱנֵ֔םI will answer them
ʾeenemH6030 →331 times
אֱלֹהֵ֥י[the] God of
ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
אֶעֶזְבֵֽם׃I will forsake them
ʾeezvemH5800 →215 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 44:3For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
it leads to
- Joel 2:28
And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
- Acts 2:17
‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
- Isaiah 59:21
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your…
- John 7:37–39
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Proverbs 1:23
If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.
- Joel 2:28
Through
Matthew 5:6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Psalms 107:9
For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
- John 6:27
Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of…
- John 4:14
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2696: “Wordless Prayers Heard in Heaven” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.