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. I will open the rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together: that they may see, and know, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."

Isaiah had just prophesied that the captivity would be in Babylon; and every Israelite knew where Babylon was located and that the passage from Babylon back to Canaan was possible only by transversing what was, to all practical purposes, a nearly impassable desert. The promise that Judah should indeed return to Palestine seemed like an utter impossibility. "These verses, Isaiah 41:17-20, seek to remedy the exiles' fears about the difficulties of the journey home. The God who had long ago supplied all the needs of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai would work even greater miracles now,"[16] that is, when the time arrived when God would bring them home.