Rabbi Levi said: Some of the expounders, like ben Azai and ben Zoma, expounded: The voice of the Holy One blessed be He became a guide for Moses, when he said to him: “Ascend to Mount Avarim” (Deuteronomy 32:49). The voice of the Holy One blessed be He became a guide for the water. That is what is written: “The voice of the Lord is on the water” (Psalms 29:3). Rabbi Berekhya said: The lower waters separated from the upper only with weeping [bekhiya].
That is what is written: “He dams the depths of [mibekhi] the rivers” (Job 28:11). Rabbi Tanḥum derives it from here: “He makes the earth with His might…. At the sound [kol] of His placement of a multitude of water [in the heavens]” (Jeremiah 10:12–13), and kol is nothing other than weeping, just as it says: “So said the Lord: A voice [kol] is heard in Rama, ]wailing, bitter weeping[” (Jeremiah 31:15).