It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power.

God had not forgotten Noah and all the animals with him in the boat; he caused a wind to blow, and the water started going down.

The outlets of the water beneath the earth and the floodgates of the sky were closed. The rain stopped,

"When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you, and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you,

listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O LORD, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession.

A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, "In the name of the LORD, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so."

None of the idols of the nations can send rain; the sky by itself cannot make showers fall. We have put our hope in you, O LORD our God, because you are the one who does these things.

He commands the sea, and it dries up! He makes the rivers go dry. The fields of Bashan wither, Mount Carmel turns brown, and the flowers of Lebanon fade.

Listen to me: it is true that there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah, when there was no rain for three and a half years and a severe famine spread throughout the whole land.

Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.

Once again he prayed, and the sky poured out its rain and the earth produced its crops.

They have authority to shut up the sky so that there will be no rain during the time they proclaim God's message. They have authority also over the springs of water, to turn them into blood; they have authority also to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

God said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all people. I will destroy them completely, because the world is full of their violent deeds.

I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die,

When Noah was six hundred years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month all the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth burst open, all the floodgates of the sky were opened,

The LORD destroyed all living beings on the earth---human beings, animals, and birds. The only ones left were Noah and those who were with him in the boat.

When you rebuked the waters, they fled; they rushed away when they heard your shout of command.

You set a boundary they can never pass, to keep them from covering the earth again.

The LORD made the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into daylight and day into night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. His name is the LORD.