From when do we mention the powers of rain? R' Eliezer says: From the first Yom Tov of the festival. R' Yehoshua says: From the last Yom Tov of the festival.  R' Yehoshua said to him: Since rain is but a symptom of curse during the festival, why mention [it]?  R' Eliezer replied to him: I, too, did not say to re-quest [rain], but [merely] to mention “He causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall,” in its proper season.  He responded: If so, one should always mention [the powers of rain]!

We do not request rain except close to the rainy season.  R' Yehudah says: Of those [chazzanim] who stand before the Ark on the last Yom Tov of the festival —- the last [chazzan] mentions [the powers of rain, but] the first [chazzan] does not mention [it]. On the first Yom Tov of Pesach, the first [chazzan] mentions [the powers of rain, but] the last [chazzan] does not mention [it].  Until when do we request rain? R' Yehudah says: Until Pesach is over; R' Meir says: Until Nissan is over, as it is said: He caused rain to fall for you —- the early rain and the late rain —- in the first month.

On the third [day] of MarCheshvan we request rain; Rabban Gamliel says: On its seventh [day], fifteen days after the festival, so that the last [pilgrim straggler] of Israel may reach the Euphrates River.

If the seventeenth [day] of MarCheshvan arrived but rain did not fall, the [distinguished] individuals would start fasting [a series of] three fasts: 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 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.

[If] these [fasts] passed and they were not answered [with rain], they must decrease commerce, construction, planting, betrothals, marriages, and greeting one another —- as [befits] people censured by the Omnipresent.  The [distinguished] individuals resume their fasting until Nissan is over. If after Nissan ended rain fell, it is a symptom of curse; as it says: Is today not the wheat harvest ...?