Ulangan 11:14

11:14 then he promises, ¹  “I will send rain for your land ²  in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, ³  so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil.

Yeremia 5:24

5:24 They do not say to themselves, ⁴ 

“Let us revere the Lord our God.

It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time.

It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.” ⁵ 

Yoel 2:23

2:23 Citizens of Zion, ⁶  rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ⁷ 

For he has given to you the early rains ⁸  as vindication.

He has sent ⁹  to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains ¹⁰  as formerly.

[11:14]  ¹ tn The words “he promises” do not appear in the Hebrew text but are needed in the translation to facilitate the transition from the condition (v. 13) to the promise and make it clear that the Lord is speaking the words of vv. 14-15.

[11:14]  ² tn Heb “the rain of your land.” In this case the genitive (modifying term) indicates the recipient of the rain.

[11:14]  ³ sn The autumn and the spring rains. The “former” (יוֹרֶה, yoreh) and “latter” (מַלְקוֹשׁ, malqosh) rains come in abundance respectively in September/October and March/April. Planting of most crops takes place before the former rains fall and the harvests follow the latter rains.

[5:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “say in their hearts.”

[5:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “who keeps for us the weeks appointed for harvest.”

[2:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons of Zion.”

[2:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”

[2:23]  ⁸ tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק , moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.

[2:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “caused to come down.”

[2:23]  ¹⁰ sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.