Praise the LORD! Praise his name, you servants of the LORD,

Whenever I cover the sky with clouds and the rainbow appears,

The seventh time he returned and said, "I saw a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand, coming up from the sea." Elijah ordered his servant, "Go to King Ahab and tell him to get in his chariot and go back home before the rain stops him."

In a little while the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind began to blow, and a heavy rain began to fall. Ahab got in his chariot and started back to Jezreel.

It is God who fills the clouds with water and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

It is God who takes water from the earth and turns it into drops of rain.

No one knows how the clouds move or how the thunder roars through the sky, where God dwells.

This is how he feeds the people and provides an abundance of food.

Thunder announces the approaching storm, and the cattle know it is coming.

Have you been to the place where the sun comes up, or the place from which the east wind blows?

Who makes rain fall where no one lives?

I will let it be overgrown with weeds. I will not trim the vines or hoe the ground; instead, I will let briers and thorns cover it. I will even forbid the clouds to let rain fall on it."

You show your care for the land by sending rain; you make it rich and fertile. You fill the streams with water; you provide the earth with crops. This is how you do it:

What a rich harvest your goodness provides! Wherever you go there is plenty.

The fields are covered with sheep; the valleys are full of wheat. Everything shouts and sings for joy.

From the sky you send rain on the hills, and the earth is filled with your blessings.

You make grass grow for the cattle and plants for us to use, so that we can grow our crops

He sends rain on the land and he waters the fields.

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.

"Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice at what the LORD your God has done for you. He has given you the right amount of autumn rain; he has poured down the winter rain for you and the spring rain as before.

You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!

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.

so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.

But he has always given evidence of his existence by the good things he does: he gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times; he gives you food and fills your hearts with happiness."

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.