John Gill Commentary Job 38:38

"When the dust runneth into a mass, And the clods cleave fast together?" — Job 38:38 (ASV)

When the dust grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast
together ?
] When the dust is attenuated, and ground, as it were, into powder; and the clods cleave together, as if glued, as in a drought for want of rain:

or the bottles of heaven being unstopped and poured out; or ``sprinkling the dust with this sprinkling,'' as Mr. Broughton. Or rather, pouring on the dust with pouring; that is, pouring down rain, by unstopping the bottles of heaven.

The dust, as meal, by water poured into it, cements, unites, and is compacted, and becomes earth, that may be cultivated; is clodded and cleaves together, and may be ploughed and sown.