When heaven is shut up,.... As it may be said to be when the air is quite serene, and not a cloud in it:
and there is no rain; in its season, neither the former nor the latter, as it was in the times of Elijah:
because they have sinned against thee; want of rain was threatened in case of sin, and was always the effect of it, Leviticus 26:19,
if they pray towards this place; in any part of the country where they were; for it sometimes rained on one city, and not on another, Amos 4:7
and confess thy name; own his power and his providence, and the justness of his dealings with them:
and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them; their affliction being made useful, to bring them to a sense of their sin, and to repentance for it, and reformation from it; or, "when thou hearest" or "answerest them" g; so the Targum, receives their prayer; thus the goodness of God leads to repentance.
g כי תענם "cum exaudieris eos", Vatablus.