Rain

Rain as a natural phenomenon

2 Sa 21:10; 1 Ki 18:41; 1 Ki 18:44; Ezr 10:9; Ec 11:3; Is 4:6; Lk 12:54; Heb 6:7

Associated with cold weather

Acts 28:2 NKJV

And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.

God controls the rain

Ge 2:5; Je 51:16

See also 1 Ki 18:1; Job 5:10; Job 28:26; Job 37:6; Job 38:25; Ps 68:8; Ps 135:7; Ps 147:8; Je 10:13; Je 14:22

God’s bounty in giving rain to Israel

Deuteronomy 28:12 NKJV

The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

See also Le 26:4; Dt 11:14

God’s bounty in giving rain to all humanity

Mt 5:45; Ac 14:17

See also Zec 10:1

God’s punishment through rain and flood

Genesis 7:4 NKJV

For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.”

See also Ex 9:33–34; 1 Sa 12:17–18; Eze 38:22

God’s punishment through drought

Deuteronomy 11:17 NKJV

lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

See also 1 Ki 8:35–36; 1 Ki 17:1; Is 5:6; Am 4:7; Zec 14:17–18; Jas 5:17; Re 11:6

Rain as a symbol of spiritual truth

God’s power to save

Isaiah 55:10–11 NKJV

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

See also 2 Sa 23:4; Is 45:8

God’s powerful anger

Ezekiel 13:11–13 NKJV

say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?’ ” Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it.

See also 2 Sa 22:12; Job 20:23; Is 28:2

Power of circumstances

Matthew 7:27 NKJV

and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

See also Mt 7:25

Rain in other imagery

Ability to satisfy:

Dt 32:2; Job 29:23; Ps 72:6; Pr 16:15

Clouds without rain: uselessness:

Pr 25:14; Jud 12

Pr 25:23; Pr 26:1

The rainbow

Ge 9:14–16 a sign of God’s covenant; Eze 1:28; Re 4:3; Re 10:1