If Rosh Chodesh Kislev arrived but rain did not fall, Beis Din decrees [a series of] three fasts upon the [entire] community. They may eat and drink after dark, and they are permitted to work, bathe, anoint [themselves with oil], wear shoes, and have marital relations.

If these [fasts] passed and they were not answered [with rain], Beis Din decrees [a series of] three more fasts upon the [entire] community. They may eat and drink [only] while it is still daytime, and they are forbidden to work, bathe, anoint [themselves with oil], wear shoes, and have marital relations. Also, they must lock the [public] bathhouses.  [If] these [fasts] passed and they were not answered [with rain], Beis Din decrees [a series of] seven more [fasts] upon them —- totaling thirteen fasts upon the [entire] community.  These [latter seven fasts] are more stringent than the earlier ones, for on these they sound the shofar and lock the stores; on Monday they may open [the store doors] partially toward evening, but on Thursday they are permitted [to keep the doors open] in honor of the Sabbath.