¹⁶ Be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside, worship, and bow down to other gods. ¹⁷ Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will close the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land^(A) the Lord is giving you.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land.^(A)

⁶ These men have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy.^(A) They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood^(B) and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want.