Ezra 10:9

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It [was] the ninth month, on the twentieth [day] of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of [this] matter, and for the great rain.

Ver. 9. Within three days] They durst not outstand their time, because their estates were at stake. Why is there not the like care taken and speed used to make peace with God, since for aught we know it is now or never, today or not at all? Is it nothing to lose an immortal soul? why, then, cry we, Cras, Domine? Tomorrow, Lord? why stand we trifling and baffling from day to day, till it be all too late? Remember the foolish virgins, and be wiser.

It was the ninth month] Which was the month of May, saith Diodati; counting September for the first, after the manner of the Persians, Esther 2:16; and this great rain, being out of the accustomed season, was somewhat prodigious, and seemed to portend God's wrath, as 1 Samuel 12:17. Others make it to be in December, the deep of winter; which, though it be an ordinary time of rain (whence in Greek also it hath its name χειμα, and in Latin hyems), yet these showers were extraordinary, more like spouts than showers; and thence the people's fear much increased by their guilt; for as no body is without its shadow, so is no sin without its fear, quia nec sine conscientia sui, because it cannot shake off conscience (Tertul.).