Albert Barnes Commentary Job 37:11

"Yea, he ladeth the thick cloud with moisture; He spreadeth abroad the cloud of his lightning:" — Job 37:11 (ASV)

Also by watering—Many different interpretations have been given of this phrase. Herder translates it, “His brightness rendeth the clouds.” Umbreit, “Und Heiterkeit vertreibt die Wolke”—“and serenity or clearness drives away the clouds.” Professor Lee, “For irrigation is the thick cloud stretched out.” Rosenmuller, “Splendor dispels the clouds.” Luther, “The thick clouds divide themselves that it may be clear.” Coverdale, “The clouds do their labor in giving moistness.” The Vulgate, “The grain desires the clouds,” and the Septuagint, “The cloud forms the chosen”—ἐκλεκτον eklekton. This variety of interpretation arises from the uncertainty of the meaning of the original word—ברי bᵉrı̂y. According to the Chaldee and the rabbis, this word means “clearness, serenity” of the heavens, and then the whole clause is to be translated, “serenity dispelleth the cloud.” Or the word may be formed from the preposition ב (bᵉ), and רי rı̂y—meaning “watering” or “rain,” the same as רוי reviy.

The word does not occur elsewhere in Hebrew, and therefore, it is not easy to determine its meaning. The weight of authority favors serenity or clearness—meaning that the thick, dark cloud is driven away by the serenity or clearness of the atmosphere, as when the clear sky seems to light up the heavens and drive away the clouds. This idea also seems to be demanded by the parallelism and is more poetic than that in the common version.

Wearieth—Or removes, or scatters. The verb used here (טרח ṭârach) occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures, though nouns derived from the verb are found in Isaiah 1:14, translated “trouble,” and Deuteronomy 1:12, translated “cumbrance.” In Arabic it means “to cast down, to project,” and therefore, to lay upon as a burden. But the word may mean to impel, drive forward, and therefore, the idea that the dark thick cloud is propelled or driven forward by the serenity of the sky. This “appears” to be so, and therefore, the poetic idea as it occurred to Elihu.

He scatters his bright cloud—Margin, “the cloud of his light.” The idea seems to be that “his light”—that is, the light which God causes to shine as the tempest passes off—seems to scatter or disperse the cloud. The image before Elihu’s mind was probably that of a departing shower, when the light seems to rise behind it and, as it were, to expel the cloud or drive it away. We are not to suppose that this is philosophically correct, but Elihu represents it as it appeared, and the image is wholly poetic.