When it is said
The priest prays it in the Liturgy of St Mark. It comes in the long intercession for the living, after the petitions for the sick, for prisoners and for travellers.
A few Orthodox churches and seminaries serve this liturgy once a year, on St Mark’s feast. A farmer or gardener might pray the same words at home in a dry season or at harvest time.
Where it comes from
No author known
The liturgy of Alexandria
The early Church historian Eusebius recorded the tradition that St Mark was the first to preach the Gospel in Egypt and founded the first churches of Alexandria. The city’s old liturgy bears his name, though no author of this prayer is named. Its full Greek text survives in a manuscript of the 12th century.
Eusebius, Church History, book 2, translated in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1; F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, 1896
For the poor first
The prayer asks God to bless the year for the sake of the poor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger, and only then for all who call on Him. That part ends on the words of Psalm 145:15, that the eyes of all look to God and He gives them their food in due season.
The Liturgy of St Mark, translated by George Ross Merry, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7
What the words mean
The river waters
After the rain, the prayer asks for the river waters to rise to their full measure and soak the furrows. In Alexandria the river meant is the Nile, as the American editor of the Ante-Nicene Fathers noted beside this liturgy.
The Scripture in it
You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth. You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.
When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Τοὺς ὑετοὺς ἀγαθοὺς πλουσίως κατάπεμψον ἐπὶ τοὺς χρῄζοντας καὶ ἐπιδεομένους τόπους·
εὔφρανον καὶ ἀνακαίνισον τῇ καταβάσει αὐτῶν τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς
ἵνα ἐν ταῖς σταγόσιν αὐτῆς εὐφρανθήσεται ἀνατέλλουσα.
Τὰ ποτάμια ὕδατα ἀνάγαγε ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον μέτρον αὐτῶν·
εὔφρανον καὶ ἀνακαίνισον τῇ ἀναβάσει αὐτῶν τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς,
τοὺς ἄλακας αὐτῆς μέθυσον, πλήθυνον τὰ γεννήματα αὐτῆς.
Τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς γῆς Κύριε εὐλόγησον, σώους καὶ ἀκεραίους ἡμῖν διατήρησον,
παράστησον ἡμῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς σπέρμα καὶ εἰς θερισμὸν
ἵνα ἐν ταῖς σταγόσιν αὐτῆς εὐφρανθήσεται ἀνατέλλουσα.
Εὐλόγησον καὶ νῦν Κύριε τὸν στέφανον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τῆς χρηστότητός σου
διὰ τοὺς πτωχοὺς τοῦ λαοῦ σου, διὰ τὴν χήραν καὶ διὰ τὸν ὀρφανόν,
διὰ τὸν ξένον καὶ διὰ τὸν προσήλυτον,
δι᾽ ἡμᾶς πάντας τοὺς ἐλπίζοντας ἐπί σε καὶ ἐπικαλουμένους τὸ ὄνομά σου τὸ ἅγιον·
οἱ γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὶ πάντων εἰς σὲ ἐλπίζουσιν καὶ σὺ δίδως τὴν τροφὴν αὐτῶν ἐν εὐκαιρίᾳ.
Ὁ διδοὺς τροφὴν πάσῃ σαρκὶ πλήρωσον χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν
ἵνα πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες περισσεύωμεν εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν
ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.
From F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western (Oxford, 1896), The Liturgy of St Mark, pp. 127-128.