Deuteronomy 11:17

And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you,.... For their idolatry, nothing being more provoking to him than that, it being contrary to his nature and being, as well as to his will, and to his honour and glory:

and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain; the treasures and storehouses of it there, or the windows of it, the clouds, which when opened let it down, but when shut withhold it; the key of rain is one of the keys which the Jews say k the Lord keeps in his own hand, and with it he opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens; see

Deuteronomy 28:12

and that the land yield not her fruit; which is unavoidably the case when rain is withheld:

and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you; for if the land does not yield its fruits sufficient to support the inhabitants of it, they must in course perish.

k Targum Jon. in Deut. xxviii. 12.