¹⁷ Then the Lord’s anger^(A) will burn against you, and he will shut up^(B) the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce,^(C) and you will soon perish^(D) from the good land the Lord is giving you.

⁶ They have power to shut up the heavens^(A) so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying;^(B) and they have power to turn the waters into blood^(C) and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

To the Church in Philadelphia

⁷ “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia^(A) write:

¹³ So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three^[a] years of famine^(A) in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague^(B) in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”

¹⁴ David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy^(C) is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵ So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.^(D)

⁴ If you refuse^(A) to let them go, I will bring locusts^(B) into your country tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left^(C) after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields.^{(D) 6} They will fill your houses^(E) and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.’”^(F) Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.^(A)