The Bible says rain is God's gift: He "giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields" (Job 5:10). He promises "rain in due season" (Leviticus 26:4) and "showers of blessing" (Ezekiel 34:26), and Jesus said the Father "sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).
In the Bible rain is never just weather. Unlike Egypt with its Nile, the promised land drank "water of the rain of heaven" (Deuteronomy 11:11), and every harvest depended on the autumn and spring rains, so rain meant life and drought meant crisis. People look up rain verses on a gray day, during a drought, for a farm or garden, when it rains on a wedding day, or when life feels like one long storm. These twelve King James verses show the God who sends the rain, His promise of rain in due season and showers of blessing, and rain as a picture of His Word and His presence. For the spring rains of new life, see spring; for the harvest, see fall.
The God who sends the rain
1. Job 5:10
"Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:"
Eliphaz says this to Job, and while much of his advice missed the mark, this line is echoed across Scripture: rain is God's gift, not the work of chance or of a weather god. Every shower is a quiet act of care for the fields and for us.
2. Jeremiah 14:22
"Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things."
Spoken in a severe drought (Jeremiah 14:1-6). The people ask whether any idol can cause rain and answer their own question: art not thou he, O LORD our God? Their response is to wait upon thee. In a dry season, waiting on God is an act of faith, not of passivity. See waiting on God.
3. Acts 14:17
"Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
Paul told a crowd at Lystra, who did not know the Scriptures, that God left not himself without witness: rain from heaven and fruitful seasons point to a generous Creator. Rain is a sermon everyone on earth can hear.
4. Job 38:28
"Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?"
God asks Job, Hath the rain a father? The answer the book expects is that God Himself is the source of every drop of rain and dew. A good verse for a child who asks where rain comes from, and for adults who have stopped wondering.
Rain in due season, showers of blessing
5. Leviticus 26:4
"Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit."
God promised Israel rain in due season, at the right time, along with fruitful land. The promise was tied to His covenant (Leviticus 26:3), and notice the word season: God's gifts come with His timing. A late rain is not a forgotten one.
6. Deuteronomy 11:14
"That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil."
The first rain (in autumn, softening the ground for planting) and the latter rain (in spring, filling out the grain) framed Israel's farming year, and God promised both. Many believers see in the two rains God's provision at the beginning and at the end of every season of life.
7. Ezekiel 34:26
"And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing."
The phrase showers of blessing comes from this chapter, where God promises to be the Shepherd of His scattered people (Ezekiel 34:11-16). It inspired the 1883 hymn There Shall Be Showers of Blessing. God's blessing is pictured not as a trickle but as a shower.
8. Psalms 68:9
"Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary."
When God's people were weary, He sent a plentiful rain to refresh His inheritance. Weariness is not the end of the story; God knows how to restore what has dried up. See restoration.
Like rain upon the mown grass
9. Deuteronomy 32:2
"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:"
Moses opens his final song by praying that his teaching would fall like rain, and like the small rain upon the tender herb. God's Word usually works gently and steadily rather than all at once, which is a good reason to read a little every day. See studying.
10. Psalms 72:6
"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth."
A prayer for the king that looks ahead to the Messiah: he shall come down like rain upon the mown grass. Freshly cut grass needs rain to recover. Christ's rule is pictured as restoring, not crushing.
11. Psalms 84:6
"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools."
Pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem passed through the valley of Baca, a dry valley whose name may mean weeping, and turned it into a place of springs as the rain filled the pools. Sorrow can become a place of refreshing when we walk on with God. See grief.
12. 2 Samuel 23:4
"And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain."
In David's last words, a just ruler is like a clear morning when tender grass shines after rain. After the storm comes the clear shining: a good verse for the end of a hard season. See new beginning.
A short prayer
Father, You send the rain on the just and on the unjust, and every shower comes from Your hand. Thank You for rain in its season. Where my heart is dry, send showers of blessing, and let Your Word fall on me like rain on tender grass. When the days are gray, help me trust that clear shining after rain is coming. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt
Pick one verse above and write: - Scripture: copy the verse by hand. - Observation: what does it say? Who is speaking, to whom? - Application: what does it mean for you today? - Prayer: turn it into a two-line prayer.
New to this method? See our Bible study guide or pick a Bible reading plan.
Let the Word fall a little each day with the free One-Year Bible Reading Plan · Keep a verse handy for gray days with the Scripture Memory Cards · Print our free Bible verse bookmarks
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible mean by rain on the just and the unjust?
Jesus said the Father "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). He was teaching about loving our enemies: God is kind to everyone, so His children should be too. It is a saying about God's generosity, not about bad luck falling on good people, though it is often quoted that way. See loving your enemy.
What did Elijah pray about rain?
James says Elijah "prayed earnestly that it might not rain" (James 5:17), and after three and a half years "he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain" (James 5:18). The full story is in 1 Kings 17–18: Elijah prayed seven times on Mount Carmel until a little cloud rose out of the sea, "like a man's hand" (1 Kings 18:44). James's point is that Elijah was "subject to like passions as we are" (James 5:17), so ordinary people's prayers matter too. See power of prayer.
What does the rainbow after the rain mean in the Bible?
After the Flood, when "the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:12), God set His bow in the cloud as "a token of a covenant between me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13) and promised never again to destroy the earth by a flood (Genesis 9:15). The rainbow is a sign of God's faithfulness, not only a beautiful sight. See God's promises.
Is there a Bible verse for a rainy day or rain on a wedding day?
For a rainy day, try "Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain" (Psalm 68:9) or the picture of "clear shining after rain" (2 Samuel 23:4). For a wedding, many couples smile at the old saying that rain on your wedding day is good luck; Scripture puts it better, calling rain a gift from God's "good treasure" (Deuteronomy 28:12). See wedding.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Bible verses about spring · Bible verses about fall · Bible verses about water · Bible verses about nature · Bible verses about God's promises · Bible verses about the power of prayer · Bible verses about waiting on God · Bible verses about the ocean
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