⁷ I even withheld the rain from you
    when there were still three months before the harvest.
I would allow rain to fall upon one town
    but not upon another.
One field would be watered by rain,
    while another would receive none and dry up.
⁸ People from two or three towns
    would stagger to a neighboring town to drink water,
    yet their thirst remained unquenched.
Yet even then you would not return to me,
    says the Lord.
⁹ I struck you with mildew and blight,
    I laid waste your gardens and vineyards;
the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees,
    but still you would not return to me,
    says the Lord.