“ The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them,

“你的民因得罪你，你惩罚他们，使天闭塞不下雨，他们若向此处祷告，承认你的名，离开他们的罪，

“你的百姓若得罪了你，你使天闭塞不下雨；他们若向此处祷告，宣认你的名，因你的惩罚而离开他们的罪，

“你的百姓若得罪了你，你使天闭塞不下雨；他们若向此处祷告，宣认你的名，因你的惩罚而离开他们的罪，

“当你的子民得罪你，你惩罚他们，使天不降雨时，如果他们向着这地方祷告，承认你的名，并离开罪恶，

“你的子民因得罪了你，你惩罚他们，使天闭塞不下雨；如果他们向着这地方祷告，承认你的名，离开他们的罪，

「你的民因得罪你，你懲罰他們，使天閉塞不下雨，他們若向此處禱告，承認你的名，離開他們的罪，

「你的百姓若得罪了你，你使天閉塞不下雨；他們若向此處禱告，宣認你的名，因你的懲罰而離開他們的罪，

「你的百姓若得罪了你，你使天閉塞不下雨；他們若向此處禱告，宣認你的名，因你的懲罰而離開他們的罪，

「當你的子民得罪你，你懲罰他們，使天不降雨時，如果他們向著這地方禱告，承認你的名，並離開罪惡，

“你的子民因得罪了你，你懲罰他們，使天閉塞不下雨；如果他們向著這地方禱告，承認你的名，離開他們的罪，

『你人民因犯罪得罪了你，天便被制住而沒有雨水；你這樣懲罰他們，他們若向這聖地而禱告，稱讚你的名，離開他們的罪而歸向你，

民獲罪爾、致天閉塞不雨、遭爾罰時、若向此祈禱、而認爾名、改悔厥罪、

如人獲罪於爾、使天閉塞、雨澤不降、至殿祈禱、呼籲爾名、緣遘患難、去厥罪愆、

如民獲罪於主、致天閉塞不雨、而在此處祈禱、主罰之之後、遂認主之名、悔改罪惡、

“ When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,

“ Suppose your people have sinned against you. And because of that, the sky is closed up and there isn’t any rain. But your people pray toward this place. They praise you by admitting they’ve sinned. And they turn away from their sin because you have made them suffer.

“ When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,

“ If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them,

When the skies are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they turn from their sins because you are afflicting them,

“ When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them,

“ When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them,

When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them:

When the skies are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and praise Your name, and they turn from their sins because You are afflicting them,

When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee;[ yet] if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;

“ When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them;

Then the anger of the LORD will erupt against you and he will close up the sky so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you.

I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze.

The sky above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron.

Then I will return again to my lair until they have suffered their punishment. Then they will seek me; in their distress they will earnestly seek me.“ Come on! Let’s return to the LORD! He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds!

When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.Because he considered and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.Yet the house of Israel says,‘ The Lord’s conduct is unjust!’ Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?“ Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign LORD. Repent and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity.Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why should you die, O house of Israel?For I take no delight in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab,“ As certainly as the LORD God of Israel lives( whom I serve), there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.”The LORD told him:“ Leave here and travel eastward. Hide out in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.Drink from the stream; I have already told the ravens to bring you food there.”So he did as the LORD told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.After a while, the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land.The LORD told him,“ Get up, go to Zarephath in Sidonian territory, and live there. I have already told a widow who lives there to provide for you.”So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he went through the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. He called out to her,“ Please give me a cup of water, so I can take a drink.”As she went to get it, he called out to her,“ Please bring me a piece of bread.”She said,“ As certainly as the LORD your God lives, I have no food, except for a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a couple of sticks for a fire. Then I’m going home to make one final meal for my son and myself. After we have eaten that, we will die of starvation.”Elijah said to her,“ Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you planned. But first make a small cake for me and bring it to me; then make something for yourself and your son.For this is what the LORD God of Israel says,‘ The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the LORD makes it rain on the surface of the ground.’”She went and did as Elijah told her; there was always enough food for Elijah and for her and her family.The jar of flour was never empty and the jug of oil never ran out, just as the LORD had promised through Elijah.After this the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe.She asked Elijah,“ Why, prophet, have you come to me to confront me with my sin and kill my son?”

In his pain Manasseh asked the LORD his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.When he prayed to the LORD, the LORD responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy. The LORD brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the LORD is the true God.

Get dressed and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore.Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.How awful that day will be! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Divine Destroyer.Our food has been cut off right before our eyes! There is no longer any joy or gladness in the temple of our God!The grains of seed have shriveled beneath their shovels. Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.Listen to the cattle groan! The herds of livestock wander around in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.To you, O LORD, I call out for help, for fire has burned up the grassy pastures, flames have razed all the trees in the fields.Even the wild animals cry out to you; for the river beds have dried up; fire has destroyed the grassy pastures.

I will make it a wasteland; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on it.

But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years, and there was a great famine over all the land.

“ Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.

“ Go to Bethel and rebel! At Gilgal rebel some more! Bring your sacrifices in the morning, your tithes on the third day!Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! For you love to do this, you Israelites.” The sovereign LORD is speaking!“ But surely I gave you no food to eat in any of your cities; you lacked food everywhere you live. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I gave rain to one city, but not to another. One field would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.People from two or three cities staggered into one city to get water, but remained thirsty. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ I destroyed your crops with blight and disease. Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!

The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy.

These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want.

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah about the drought.“ The people of Judah are in mourning. The people in her cities are pining away. They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. Cries of distress come up to me from Jerusalem.The leading men of the cities send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns, but they do not find any water there. They return with their containers empty. Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands.They are dismayed because the ground is cracked because there has been no rain in the land. The farmers, too, are dismayed and bury their faces in their hands.Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn in the field because there is no grass.Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found.”Then I said,“ O LORD, intervene for the honor of your name even though our sins speak out against us. Indeed, we have turned away from you many times. We have sinned against you.You have been the object of Israel’s hopes. You have saved them when they were in trouble. Why have you become like a resident foreigner in the land? Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?Why should you be like someone who is helpless, like a champion who cannot save anyone? You are indeed with us, and we belong to you. Do not abandon us!”

This is what the LORD says:“ Where is your mother’s divorce certificate by which I divorced her? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold because of your sins; because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother.Why does no one challenge me when I come? Why does no one respond when I call? Is my hand too weak to deliver you? Do I lack the power to rescue you? Look, with a mere shout I can dry up the sea; I can turn streams into a desert, so the fish rot away and die from lack of water.

Blow the trumpet in Zion. Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly!Gather the people; sanctify an assembly! Gather the elders; gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom and the bride from her private quarters.Let the priests, those who serve the LORD, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say,“ Have pity, O LORD, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples,“ Where is their God?”