Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations - Volume 4

By this verse he removes every doubt, lest any one should reject what he had promised as to the restoration of the people, because the Jews and the Israelites were at the time as dead men. He therefore says, I will water the thirsty soul;some render it “the weary soul;” but נפש עיפה, nupesh oiphe,is often taken metaphorically for a thirsty soul. So in (Psalm 143:6), it is said,

“I am as a dry land;”

weariness cannot be suitably applied to land; and in (Isaiah 29:8), we have these words,

“As one dreaming he thinks that he eats; afterwards, when awake, his soul is empty: and as one who thinks that he drinks,”

etc. The Prophet employs there the same word, because there is hardly ever weariness without thirst; we contract thirst by weariness. Then the soul is said to be עיפה, oiphe,by a metaphor, not weary, but on the contrary thirsty; and the verb corresponds, which means to inebriate, to irrigate, or to water, and often to satiate. I willthen irrigate,or water to satiety, thy dry soul,and every soul which faints,etc., but as דאב, dab,means to be deficient, and sometimes to be wearied, here it denotes a defect, for it follows, I will fill It is then to be taken for a famished soul. ⁴⁷

The meaning is, that though the Israelites should hunger and thirst, and be for a time without food and drink, yet their want would not prevent God from affording them relief, for he had the power and the will to satisfy the hungry, and to give drink to the thirsty, or to those who were fainting on account of thirst. It now follows, —