after those immediate and material blessings promised in verses 19–27. The key temporal term in verses 19–27 is found in verse 23: “in the first [act of blessing?]” (bārîʾšôn). The Lord God would send both the autumn and spring rains in this his first act of blessing. Thus, the pastures, the fields, the trees, and the vines would thrive once again as God revived the land that had just been decimated by the locust invasion and the accompanying drought.12 Then a second, subsequent act would come “afterward”