Answers about
drought in the Bible

also known as: no rain

From the middle of May to about the middle of August the land of Israel is dry. It is then the “drought of summer” (Genesis 31:40; Psalm 32:4), and the land suffers (Deuteronomy 28:23; Psalm 102:4), vegetation being preserved only by the dews (Hag. 1:11).

Droughts are mentioned many times in the Bible.

• Leviticus 26:19-20 (rainless sky, parched earth)

• As the Israelites were about to enter into The Promised Land, God told them,

  “And it will be that, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love Yahweh your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that I, Yahweh, will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rains, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

  Beware lest your hearts be deceived, and you turn away and serve other gods and worship them, and the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which Yahweh is giving you.” —Deuteronomy 11:13-17 LSB

• Deuteronomy 28:24 (drought punishment)

• Zechariah 14:17 (rain withheld as judgment)

• II Samuel 21:1 (drought and famine)

• James 5:17-18 (when the prophet Elijah earnestly prayed to God, it did not rain for 3 years and 6 months, then he prayed again and it rained)

• 1 Kings 8:35; 2 Chronicles 6:26 (“no rain, because they have sinned against You”)

• I Kings 16:30-18:45 (rain withheld and given)

• 1 Kings 17:7

• 2 Chronicles 7:13 (“I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain”)

• Isaiah 5:6 (“I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it.”)

• Jeremiah 14:4

• Zechariah 14:17, 18 (“And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, there will be no rain on them.”)

• Amos 4:7 (rain given and withheld from certain cities)

• Hosea 13:15 (dry weather)

• Revelation 11:6 (Christ’s 2 witnesses during the end times before the Millennium have authority to stop all rain)

More information

• Answers about rain in the Bible
• Answers about famines in the Bible
• Does God control the weather? Does He send deadly storms?
• What are judgments of God in the Bible?
• WEATHER EXTREMES—What are some weather extremes on Earth?
• What is the “Anger of God”?
• What is the “fury” of God?
• irrigation
• Answers about dew in the Bible
• seasons
• Answers about agriculture in the Bible