< Job 38 >
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
Y RESPONDIÓ Jehová á Job desde un torbellino, y dijo:
2 “(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
¿Quién es ése que oscurece el consejo con palabras sin sabiduría?
3 I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
Ahora ciñe como varón tus lomos; yo te preguntaré, y hazme saber tú.
4 (“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
¿Dónde estabas cuando yo fundaba la tierra? házme[lo] saber, si tienes inteligencia.
5 Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
¿Quién ordenó sus medidas, si lo sabes? ¿ó quién extendió sobre ella cordel?
6 What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
¿Sobre qué están fundadas sus basas? ¿ó quién puso su piedra angular,
Cuando las estrellas todas del alba alababan, y se regocijaban todos los hijos de Dios?
8 “When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
¿Quién encerró con puertas la mar, cuando se derramaba por fuera [como] saliendo de madre;
9 It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
Cuando puse yo nubes por vestidura suya, y por su faja oscuridad.
10 I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
Y establecí sobre ella mi decreto, y le puse puertas y cerrojo,
11 [I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
Y dije: Hasta aquí vendrás, y no pasarás adelante, y ahí parará la hinchazón de tus ondas?
12 “Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
¿Has tú mandado á la mañana en tus días? ¿has mostrado al alba su lugar,
13 Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
Para que ocupe los fines de la tierra, y que sean sacudidos de ella los impíos?
14 When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
Trasmúdase como lodo bajo de sello, y viene á estar como [con] vestidura:
15 When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
Mas la luz de los impíos es quitada de ellos, y el brazo enaltecido es quebrantado.
16 “[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
¿Has entrado tú hasta los profundos de la mar, y has andado escudriñando el abismo?
17 Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
¿Hante sido descubiertas las puertas de la muerte, y has visto las puertas de la sombra de muerte?
18 Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
¿Has tú considerado hasta las anchuras de la tierra? Declara si sabes todo esto.
19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
¿Por dónde va el camino á la habitación de la luz, y dónde está el lugar de las tinieblas?
20 Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
¿Si llevarás tú [ambas cosas] á sus términos, y entenderás las sendas de su casa?
21 I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
¿Sabíaslo tú porque hubieses ya nacido, ó [porque es] grande el número de tus días?
22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
¿Has tú entrado en los tesoros de la nieve, ó has visto los tesoros del granizo,
23 I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
Lo cual tengo yo reservado para el tiempo de angustia, para el día de la guerra y de la batalla?
24 And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
¿Por qué camino se reparte la luz, y se esparce el viento solano sobre la tierra?
25 Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
¿Quién repartió conducto al turbión, y camino á los relámpagos y truenos,
26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
Haciendo llover sobre la tierra deshabitada, sobre el desierto, donde no hay hombre,
27 Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
Para hartar la [tierra] desierta é inculta, y para hacer brotar la tierna hierba?
28 Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
¿Tiene la lluvia padre? ¿ó quién engendró las gotas del rocío?
29 And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
¿De qué vientre salió el hielo? y la escarcha del cielo, ¿quién la engendró?
30 [In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
Las aguas se endurecen á manera de piedra, y congélase la haz del abismo.
31 “[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
¿Podrás tú impedir las delicias de las Pléyades, ó desatarás las ligaduras del Orión?
32 Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
¿Sacarás tú á su tiempo los signos de los cielos, ó guiarás el Arcturo con sus hijos?
33 Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
¿Supiste tú las ordenanzas de los cielos? ¿dispondrás tú de su potestad en la tierra?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
¿Alzarás tú á las nubes tu voz, para que te cubra muchedumbre de aguas?
35 Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
¿Enviarás tú los relámpagos, para que ellos vayan? ¿y diránte ellos: Henos aquí?
36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
¿Quién puso la sabiduría en el interior? ¿ó quién dió al entendimiento la inteligencia?
37 And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
¿Quién puso por cuenta los cielos con sabiduría? y los odres de los cielos, ¿quién los hace parar,
38 with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
Cuando el polvo se ha convertido en dureza, y los terrones se han pegado unos con otros?
39 “When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
¿CAZARÁS tú la presa para el león? ¿y saciarás el hambre de los leoncillos,
Cuando están echados en las cuevas, ó se están en sus guaridas para acechar?
41 Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
¿Quién preparó al cuervo su alimento, cuando sus pollos claman á Dios, bullendo de un lado á otro por carecer de comida?