It is taught in another baraita: The first rain is in Marḥeshvan and the last rain is in Nisan. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. And the Sages say: The time of the first rain is in Kislev.

The Gemara asks: Who are the Sages cited here? Rav Ḥisda said: It is the opinion of Rabbi Yosei, as it is taught in a baraita: When is the first rainfall? Each opinion cited in the baraita provides a range of dates for when this rainfall is expected. The earliest date on which the first rainfall might occur is on the third of Marḥeshvan, the intermediate time is on the seventh of the month, and the latest is on the seventeenth of the month. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: The earliest that it might fall is on the seventh of Marḥeshvan, the intermediate date is on the seventeenth, and the latest is on the twenty-third. Rabbi Yosei says: The earliest time for the first rain is on the seventeenth of Marḥeshvan, the intermediate date is on the twenty-third, and the latest is on the New Moon of Kislev.

(38) and in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul—that is, the eighth month—the House was completed according to all its details and all its specifications. It took him seven years to build it.

(11) In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day All the fountains of the great deep burst apart, And the floodgates of the sky broke open. (12) The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

(14) And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

(3) If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, (4) I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit.

(14) But if you do not obey Me and do not observe all these commandments …

(19) and I will break your proud glory. I will make your skies like iron and your earth like copper, (20) so that your strength shall be spent to no purpose. Your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

Just as the resurrection of the dead brings life to the world, so rains bring life to the world.

§ The Gemara cites statements in praise of rainfall. Rabbi Abbahu said: The day of rain is greater than the resurrection of the dead. The reason is that while the resurrection of the dead benefits only the righteous, rain benefits both the righteous and the wicked.

Similarly, Rav Yehuda said: The day of the rains is as great as the day on which the Torah was given, as it is stated: “My doctrine [likḥi] shall drop as the rain” (Deuteronomy 32:2), and lekaḥ means nothing other than Torah, as it is stated: “For I give you good doctrine [lekaḥ]; do not forsake My Torah” (Proverbs 4:2).

Rava said: Rainfall is even greater than the day on which the Torah was given, as it is stated: “My doctrine shall drop as the rain,” and when one makes a comparison, which object is made dependent upon which? You must say that the lesser object is dependent upon the greater one. If Torah is compared to rain, it follows that rain is greater than Torah.

Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: The day of the rains is as great as the day on which the heavens and earth were created, as it is stated: “Rain down, heavens, from above, let the skies pour [yizlu … drizzle?] down righteousness; let the earth open that they may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together; I, the Lord, have created it” (Isaiah 45:8). The Gemara explains that the verse does not say: I have created them, in the plural, but: I have created it. In other words, the verse is referring to rain, rather than to the heavens and the earth, which indicates that rainfall is as important as the creation of the world.

(10) For the land that you are about to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come. There the grain you sowed had to be watered by your own labors, like a vegetable garden; (11) but the land you are about to cross into and possess, a land of hills and valleys, soaks up its water from the rains of heaven. (12) It is a land which your God ה׳ looks after, on which your God ה׳ always keeps an eye, from year’s beginning to year’s end.

(13) If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving your God ה׳ and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, (14) I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. (16) Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. (17) For ה׳’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that ה׳ is assigning to you.

(35) “Should the heavens be shut up and there be no rain, because they have sinned against You, and then they pray toward this place and acknowledge Your name and repent of their sins, when You answer them, (36) oh, hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, after You have shown them the proper way in which they are to walk; and send down rain upon the land that You gave to Your people as their heritage…

Rabbi Oshaya likewise said: The day of rain is great, as rain even facilitates salvation, which is fruitful and multiplies on that day. It is a time of God’s favor, when salvation is brought forth into the world, as it is stated: “Let the earth open that they may bring forth salvation” (Isaiah 45:8). Rabbi Tanḥum bar Ḥanilai said: Rain falls only if the Jewish people’s transgressions have been forgiven, as it is stated: “Lord, You have been favorable to Your land; You have turned the captivity of Jacob; You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have pardoned all their sin. Selah” (Psalms 85:2–3). This chapter proceeds to discuss rainfall: “And righteousness has looked down from Heaven” (Psalms 85:12), in the form of rain.

Rav Ḥisda said: The rains are withheld only due to the sin of the nullification of teruma and tithes, as it is stated: “Drought and heat will steal the snow waters” (Job 24:19). The Gemara asks: From where in the verse may this idea be inferred from the verse? The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Due to matters that I have commanded you to do in the heat [of summer,] i.e., take teruma and tithes from the summer produce, and that you did not do, the snow waters will be stolen from you in the rainy season.

Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said: The rains are withheld only due to the sin of those who speak slander, as it is stated: “The north wind brings forth rain, but a backbiting tongue, an angry countenance” (Proverbs 25:23). This verse indicates that if the countenance of the heavens is angry, with neither clouds nor rain, it is due to slanderous speech.

Rav Salla said that Rav Hamnuna said: The rains are withheld only due to impudent people, as it is stated: “Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no last rain, yet you had a harlot’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed” (Jeremiah 3:3).

Rav Ketina said: The rains are withheld only due to the sin of dereliction in the study of Torah, as it is stated: “By slothfulness the rafters [hamekare] will sink in [yimakh], and through idleness of the hands the house leaks” (Ecclesiastes 10:18). Due to slothfulness that was present amongst the Jewish people, that they did not occupy themselves with Torah, the enemy of the Holy One, Blessed be He, a euphemism for God Himself, has sunk.

Rabbi Ami said: The rains are withheld only due to the sin of robbery, as it is stated: “He covers His hands with the light, and He has commanded it due to imploring” (Job 36:32). This means that due to the sin of stealing hands, God has covered the light and no rain will fall. And Rabbi Ami adds that the term “hand” means nothing other than a sin of violence, as it is stated: “And from the violence that is in their hands” (Jonah 3:8). And “light” means nothing other than rain, as it is stated: “He spreads abroad the cloud of His light” (Job 37:11).

What is the remedy of one who has caused the rain to be withheld? He should increase his prayers, as it is stated in the same chapter: “And He has commanded it due to imploring” (Job 36:32)…

(11) In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day All the fountains of the great deep burst apart, And the floodgates of the sky broke open.

And Rebbi Levi said: The upper waters are male and the lower ones female. What is the reason? (Is. 45:8) “The earth shall open,” like a female who opens before a male; “they should bear fruit of help,” that is being fruitful and multiplying; “and justice shall sprout together,” that is rainfall; “I, the Eternal, did create it,” for that I created it, for the well-being of the world. Rebbi Aḥa stated it in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Gamliel: Why is it called “fertilizing,” because it impregnates the earth.

§ Returning to the topic of rain, Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And He will close up the heavens” (Deuteronomy 11:17)? This verse teaches that when the heavens are closed up from bringing down dew and rain, this is similar to a woman who has the pangs of labor and yet does not give birth, as the heavens themselves suffer from their inability to bring down rain and dew. And this is what Reish Lakish said in the name of bar Kappara: Closing up is stated with regard to rains, and closing up is likewise stated with regard to a woman. Reish Lakish elaborates: Closing up is stated with regard to a woman who cannot give birth, as it is stated: “For the Lord has fast closed up all the wombs” (Genesis 20:18), and closing up is stated with regard to rains, as it is written: “And He will close up the heavens” (Deuteronomy 11:17).

§ The Gemara returns to the subject of rain. Rabbi Abbahu said: What is the meaning of the term for rainfall, revia? It is referring to a matter that penetrates [rove’a], i.e., which causes the earth to bear fruit. This is in accordance with the opinion of Rav Yehuda, as Rav Yehuda said: Rain is the husband of the earth, as it is stated: “For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, except it waters the earth, and makes it give birth and sprout” (Isaiah 55:10). This verse indicates that rain fructifies the earth in the manner of a husband and wife.

Rabbi Abbahu said: From when does one recite a blessing over rain? From when the groom goes out to meet the bride, that is, when there are puddles of water on the ground such that the water below, represented as the bride in this metaphor, is splashed from above by the raindrops, represented as the groom.

(16) Make an opening for daylight in the ark / Teva and terminate it within a cubit of the top. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second, and third decks.

(17) May his name be eternal; while the sun lasts, may his name endure [or: be Yinun]; let men invoke his blessedness upon themselves; let all nations count him happy.

(21) God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good.

(25) There is the sea, vast and wide, with its creatures beyond number, living things, small and great. (26) There go the ships, and Leviathan that You formed to sport with.

(7) Praise the LORD, O you who are on earth, all sea monsters and ocean depths,