Midrasch zu Ijow 5:10

We are taught in a Baraitha: R. Eliezer said: "The entire world drinks of the water of the ocean [coming from below]; as it is said (Gen. 2, 6) But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground." "How can that be?" R. Joshua said to him. "Are not the waters of the ocean salty?" Whereupon he replied: "They become sweet in the clouds." R. Joshua, however, says: "The entire world drinks of the water that comes from above, as it is said (Deut. 11, 11) From the rain of heaven doth it drink water. But how is the passage: T' at there went up a mist from the earth, to be taken? It means that clouds rise towards heaven, where they open their mouths like bags and drink in the water; as it is said (Job 36, 27) For he taketh away drops of water, which are purified into rain in the mist; and the mist is porous like a sieve, through which the rain descends to the earth; as it is said (II Sam. 22, 12) Heavy masses of water, thick clouds of the skies, and the space from one drop to another is only the width of a hair. From this it may be inferred that the day of rain is as great as was the day of creation of heaven and earth; as it is said (Job 9, 10) Who doth great things which are quite unsearchable; and it is also written (Ib. 5, 10) Who giveth rain upon the surface of the earth; and it is also written (Is. 40, 28) Dost thou not know? Hast thou not heard? The God of everlasting is the Lord, etc., unsearchable is his understanding; and again it is written (Ps. 65, 7) Who setteth firmly the mountains, etc.

(Fol. 10) Our Rabbis were taught: "The land of Israel was created first of all and the rest of the world later; as it is said (Prov. 8, 26) While as yet he had not made the land and open fields." Our Rabbis were taught: "The land of Israel is watered first, and the rest of the world is being watered by the residue within the clouds. This may be likened unto a man who makes cheese; he uses what is edible, and leaves the refuse. "The land of Israel is watered by the Lord Himself, while the rest of the world is watered by a messenger; as it is said (Job 5, 10) Who giveth rain upon the surface the face of the fields." R. Joshua b. Levi, however, said that the entire world is of the earth, and sendeth out waters over watered by the drains of Eden; as it is said (Gen. 2, 10) And a river went out of Eden to water the garden and from there it was parted and became four principal streams. In a Baraitha we have been taught: "The sap of a field of the capacity of a Kur of seed is enough to water a field of the capacity of a Tarkab (one-sixtieth)."

“All the rivers go to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place that the rivers go, they go there again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7).
“All the rivers go to the sea,” and from where does the earth drink?³²Which waters are provided to the earth in the form of rain? Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Eliezer says: It drinks from the water of the ocean, as it is stated: “A mist went up from the earth [and watered the entire face of the ground]” (Genesis 2:6).³³Thus, it is water from the earth that turns to vapor and then falls as rain. Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: ‘Isn’t the water of the ocean salty?’ He said to him: ‘They are sweetened in the clouds, as it is written: “Which the skies pour down” (Job 36:28). Where do they become what pours down? It is in the skies.’ Rabbi Yehoshua says: [The earth] drinks from the upper waters, as it is stated: “From the rain of the heavens you drink water” (Deuteronomy 11:11). The clouds ascend from the earth to the heavens and receive [the water] as though from the mouth of a bottle, as it is written: “Which distill rain to His mist” (Job 36:27). They separate them like a sieve and one drop does not touch another, as it is written: “The amassing of water, thick clouds of the skies’ (II Samuel 22:12). Why does it call them skies [sheḥakim]? It is because they crush [shoḥekin] the water.³⁴Separating the water into separate drops. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Like an omasum.³⁵The third stomach in the animal that grinds the food. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: Like the intestines of an animal.³⁶That crush the food. It is as Rabbi Yehoshua said: A day of rainfall is great, as it is equivalent to the entire act of Creation.³⁷Rabbi Yehoshua’s opinion that rainwater is from the upper waters in the heavens, which comes to earth, is consistent with his statement that this process is an act equivalent to Creation itself (Midrash HaMevoar). What is the reason? “Who performs great things beyond scrutiny and wonders beyond number” (Job 9:10); with what? “Who gives water on the face of the earth…” (Job 5:10).

(Devarim 11:14) "And I shall give the rain of your land in its (proper) time, the yoreh and the malkosh": "I," and not an angel, and not a messenger. "the rain of your land": and not the rain of other lands. And thus is it written (Job 5:10) "who gives rain upon the land, and sends water upon the outer (regions)."