But I tell you truly, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land;

So he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?'

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night and day to admonish each one with tears.

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.