Isaiah 41:18 (DRB)

Passage

I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 41:16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.

Isaiah 41:17 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.

Isaiah 41:18 I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters.

Isaiah 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together:

Isaiah 41:20 That they may see and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "open", "rivers", "high", "hills", "fountains", "midst", "plains", and "turn". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "open" and "rivers", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 17's "The needy and the poor seek for..." into verse 19's "I will plant in the wilderness the...", so "open" and "rivers" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "open" and "rivers" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.