Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 58:11

"and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." — Isaiah 58:11 (ASV)

And the Lord shall guide you continually - Yahweh will go before you and will lead you always.

And satisfy your soul in drought - (See the notes at Isaiah 41:17-18). The word rendered ‘drought’ (Margin, ‘droughts; ’ Hebrew, tsach^etsâchôth) means “dry places”—places exposed to the intense heat of a burning sun and parched up for want of moisture. The idea is that God would provide for them as if copious rains were to fall or refreshing fountains were to burst forth in such places.

And make fat your bones - Lowth, ‘Shall renew your strength.’ Noyes, ‘Strengthen your bones.’ Jerome renders it, ‘Shall liberate your bones.’ The Septuagint, ‘Your bones shall be made fat.’ The idea is undoubtedly that of vigorous prosperity and strength. Job 21:24 expresses a similar idea of a strong man dying:

‘His watering places for flocks abound with milk,
And his bones are moist with marrow.’

For the propriety of this translation, which differs from the common version, see my notes on Job, in loc. The word used here (חלץ châlats), however, does not often, if ever, denote to make fat. It rather means to be manful, active, brave, ready for war; and the idea here is probably derived from the preparation made for the active services of war, rather than that of being made fat.

And you shall be like a watered garden - Syriac, ‘Like paradise.’ This is a most beautiful image to denote continued prosperity and blessedness—an image that would be particularly striking in the East. The ideas of happiness in the Oriental world consisted largely of pleasant gardens, running streams, and ever-flowing fountains; nothing can more beautifully express the blessedness of the continued favor of the Almighty.

The following extract from Campbell (African Light) may illustrate this passage: ‘In a hot climate, where showers seldom fall, except in what is called the rainy season, the difference between a well and ill-watered garden is most striking. I remember some gardens in Africa where they could lead no water to them; the plants were all stunted, sickly, or others completely gone, with only the hole left where the faded plant had been. The sight was unpleasant and caused gloom to appear on every countenance; they were pictures of desolation. But in other gardens, to which the owners could bring daily supplies of water from an overflowing fountain, causing it to traverse the garden, every plant had a green, healthy appearance, loaded with fruit in different stages toward maturity, with fragrant scent proceeding from beds of lovely flowers. All this was produced by the virtue God has put into the single article of water.’

Whose waters fail not - Margin, ‘Lie,’ or ‘Deceive.’ Hebrew, kâzab - ‘Lie.’ Waters or springs lie or deceive when they become dried up or fail in the dry seasons of the year. They deceive the shepherd who expected to obtain water there for himself or his flock; they deceive the caravan that had traveled to the well-known fountain where it had often been refreshed, and where it is now found its waters are dried up or lost in the sand. Hence, such a brook or fountain becomes an emblem of a false and deceitful friend (Job 6:15):

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
As the stream of brooks they pass away.

But in the supplies which God makes for his people, there is no such deception. The fountains of pardon, peace, and joy are ever open and ever full. The streams of salvation are always flowing.

The weary pilgrim may go there at any season of the year, and from any part of a desolate world, and find them always full, refreshing, and free. However far the pilgrimage to them may be from amidst the waste and burning climes of sin, however many come to slake their thirst, and however frequently they come, they find them always the same. They never fail; and they will continue to flow on to the end of time.