Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 41:17

"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." — Isaiah 41:17 (ASV)

When the poor and needy ... —The promise may perhaps take as its starting-point the help given to the return of the exiles, but it rises rapidly into the region of a higher poetry, in which earthly things are the parables of heavenly, and does not call for a literal fulfilment any more than wines of the lees (Isaiah 25:6).