Psalms 126:4

Turn again our captivity, O Lord Perfect what thou hast begun, and as thou hast brought us home, bring home also the rest of our brethren, who still remain captives in Babylon, or are dispersed in that country, or in any other parts of the world; as the streams in the south Which would be as welcome to this desolate country as streams of water to the dry and thirsty grounds. Or, that we may refresh and cultivate thy holy land, as the rivers of the south gladden, fructify, and replenish their dry and thirsty soil. The Hebrew word נגב, negeb, here rendered, the south, signifies, says Dr. Hammond, “a dry and parched soil; and, by a figure, is very well used to signify the south, as the soil of the southern countries is very hot, dry, and burned up with the sun. This particularly is the case in Egypt, where they would never have any crops at all, were it not for the annual overflowing of their rivers; so that the psalmist here prays that he would turn their captivity, as he doth the rivers of the south, or of Egypt, to gladden and replenish the otherwise parched and barren earth.” Bishop Lowth, however, and some others, think the image is taken from the torrents in the deserts to the south of Judea; in Idumea, Arabia Petræa, &c., a mountainous country; which torrents were constantly dried up in the summer, and as constantly returned after the rainy season, and filled again their deserted channels: see Job 6:17. Thus the Jews had left their country desolate, but now flowed into it again.