1 Kings 8:35

8:35 “The time will come when ¹  the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people ²  sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, ³  and turn away from their sin because you punish ⁴  them,

1 Kings 17:14

17:14 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.’”

1 Kings 18:44

18:44 The seventh time the servant ⁵  said, “Look, a small cloud, the size of the palm of a man’s hand, is rising up from the sea.” Elijah ⁶  then said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up the chariots and go down, so that the rain won’t overtake you.’” ⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 35-36a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “because you answer them,” as if the verb is from עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”). However, this reference to a divine answer is premature, since the next verse asks for God to intervene in mercy. It is better to revocalize the consonantal text as תְעַנֵּם (tÿ’annem, “you afflict them”), a Piel verb form from the homonym עָנָה (“to afflict”).

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “so that the rain won’t restrain you.”