"If even after all of this you still do not obey me, I will increase your punishment seven times.

All your hard work will do you no good, because your land will not produce crops and the trees will not bear fruit.

No rain will fall, and your ground will become as hard as iron.

Instead of rain, the LORD will send down duststorms and sandstorms until you are destroyed.

"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.

Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people,

if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.

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."

That is why the rains were held back, and the spring showers did not come. You even look like a prostitute; you have no shame.

You never thought to honor me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year.

Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.

Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.

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.

That is why there is no rain and nothing can grow.

I have brought drought on the land---on its hills, grainfields, vineyards, and olive orchards---on every crop the ground produces, on people and animals, on everything you try to grow."

If any nation refuses to go and worship the LORD Almighty as king, then rain will not fall on their 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.

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.

"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 have a saying, 'Four more months and then the harvest.' But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested!

But I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live, so that there will be no flies there. I will do this so that you will know that I, the LORD, am at work in this land.

I will make a distinction between the animals of the Israelites and those of the Egyptians, and no animal that belongs to the Israelites will die.

The region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was the only place where there was no hail.

The Egyptians could not see each other, and no one left his house during that time. But the Israelites had light where they were living.

Well, I am putting some wool on the ground where we thresh the wheat. If in the morning there is dew only on the wool but not on the ground, then I will know that you are going to use me to rescue Israel."

Then Gideon said to God, "Don't be angry with me; let me speak just once more. Please let me make one more test with the wool. This time let the wool be dry, and the ground be wet."

Who made you superior to others? Didn't God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?

The fields are bare; the ground mourns because the grain is destroyed, the grapes are dried up, and the olive trees are withered.

The grapevines and fig trees have withered; all the fruit trees have wilted and died. The joy of the people is gone.

Give orders for a fast; call an assembly! Gather the leaders and all the people of Judah into the Temple of the LORD your God and cry out to him!

We look on helpless as our crops are destroyed. There is no joy in the Temple of our God.

The cattle are bellowing in distress because there is no pasture for them; the flocks of sheep also suffer.