Psalms 107:33

“He turneth rivers into a wilderness - He makes great changes in the earth; he shows that he has absolute dominion over it. See the notes at Isaiah 44:26-27. On the word “wilderness,” see the notes at Psalms 107:4. The point here is, that God had such control over nature that he could make the bed of a river dry and barren as the rocky or sandy desert. He could effectually dry up the stream, and make it so dry and parched that nothing would grow but the most stunted shrubs, such as were found in the waste and sandy desert. And the water-springs into dry ground - The very fountains of the rivers: not only drying up the river itself by leading it off into burning wastes where it would be…”

“Rivers - Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore fruitful. And so the water - springs, here, and the standing water, Psa 107:35 are taken. Into - Into a dry ground, which is like a parched and barren wilderness. Psalms 107:34”

“107:33-42 These two sections (107:33-38, 39-42) expand the theme of the Lord’s sovereignty over things that humans cannot control. 107:33-35 The Lord can choose to make the earth fertile or barren (74:15; Isa 35:6-7).”

“turneth: Kg1 17:1-7; Isa 13:19-21, Isa 19:5-10, Isa 34:9, Isa 34:10, Isa 42:15, Isa 44:27, Isa 50:2; Eze 30:12; Joe 1:20; Nah 1:4; Zep 2:9, Zep 2:13 watersprings: Kg1 18:5; Jer 14:3; Amo 4:7, Amo 4:8 Psalms 107:34”

“Since in Psa 107:36 the historical narration is still continued, a meaning relating to the contemporaneous past is also retrospectively given to the two correlative ישׂם. It now goes on to tell what those who have now returned have observed and experienced in their own case. Psa 107:33 sounds like Isa 50:2; Psa 107:33 like Isa 35:7; and Psa 107:35 takes its rise from Isa 41:18. The juxtaposition of מוצאי and צמּאון, since Deu 8:15, belongs to the favourite antithetical alliterations, e.g., Isa 61:3. מלחה, that which is salty (lxx cf. Sir. 39:23: ἅλμη), is, as in Job 39:6, the name for the uncultivated, barren steppe. A land that has been laid waste for the punishment of its inhabitants has…”