And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
Little ones - rather, 'their inferiors,' i:e., domestics.
They came to the pits - cisterns for collecting rain-water, often met with in the East, where there are no springs.
Covered their heads - (2 Samuel 15:30, "David, wept as he went up, and had his head covered"). A sign of humiliation and mourning.