以甦民困 Relief for a Suffering People
行者道：「因保唐僧，路至天竺國界，鳳仙郡無雨，郡侯召師祈雨。老孫呼得龍王，意命降雨，他說未奉玉帝旨意，不敢擅行，特來求旨，以甦民困。」行者道：「因保唐僧，路至天竺国界，凤仙郡无雨，郡侯召师祈雨。老孙呼得龙王，意命降雨，他说未奉玉帝旨意，不敢擅行，特来求旨，以苏民困。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said, "While escorting the Tang Monk we came to the border of India, where Fengxian Prefecture has had no rain, and the prefect has called for a master to pray for it.
因保唐僧, because of guarding the Tang Monk, is how Pilgrim opens every formal account of himself in the second half of the novel. The escort is his standing and his excuse at once. 召師 is to summon a master — the prefect's notice, described upward in the language of officialdom.
"Old Monkey called up the Dragon King meaning to order rain, and he said that without an edict from the Jade Emperor he dared not act on his own authority. So I have come specially to request the edict, and relieve the people in their distress."
得 in 呼得 is dé, the attainment reading — called up and got him. 甦 is to revive, to come back to life, and it is a much stronger verb than relieve: he is asking for the people to be brought round, the way one revives someone who has fainted.
Pilgrim tells the story a second time, to a second set of officials, and it comes out almost word for word as before. He is learning the shape of a petition.
The verb he ends on is the interesting one. Not help, not save — revive. He has seen the town: the empty market, the cold streets, the notice with the price of a child on it. The word he chooses for what he wants is the one you use for someone who has stopped breathing.