Albert Barnes Commentary Job 38:37

"Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven," — Job 38:37 (ASV)

Who can number the clouds? — The word here rendered “clouds” (שׁחקים shachaqiym) is applied to the clouds as made up of “small particles”—as if they were composed of fine dust. Hence, the word “number” is applied to them, not as meaning that the clouds themselves are innumerable, but that no one could estimate the number of particles which enter into their formation.

In wisdom — By his wisdom. Who has sufficient intelligence to do it?

Or who can stay the bottles of heaven? — Margin, as in Hebrew, “cause to lie down.” The clouds are here compared with bottles, as if they held the water in the same manner (compare the notes at Job 26:8). The word rendered “stay” in the text, and in the margin “cause to lie down,” is rendered by Umbreit as “pour out,” from an Arabic meaning of the word. Gesenius supposes that the meaning “to pour out” is derived from the idea of “causing to lie down,” from the fact that a bottle or vessel was made to lie down, or was inclined to one side, when its contents were poured out. This explanation seems probable, though there is no other place in Hebrew where the word is used with this meaning. The sense of “pouring out” agrees well with the context.