Job 17:12
in Job 17They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They change the night into day: The light, say they, is near unto the darkness.
KJV
They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
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This verse in Job 17
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThey change the night into day - These purposes and thoughts are so very gloomy, that they change day into night. The light is short because of darkness - אור קרוב מפני חשך or karob mippeney choshek, “The light is near from the face of darkness.” I have scarcely any light: what is called light is so near akin to darkness, that it is scarcely severed from it. There is either no light, or merely such as is sufficient to render darkness visible.
This site's exposition
They have turned night into day
on Job 17:12-14
With "If I look for Sheol as my home" the grave becomes his home. He gives corruption and the worm the names of father, mother and sister, the relations he has lost. Delitzsch notes the boldness of naming decay as kin.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver. 12. They have changed the night into day. For 'the thoughts being scattered change night into day,' in that it is sometimes more grateful to the righteous through adversity to undergo sufferings, rather than as the effect of prosperity to be harassed with the charge of earthly ministering. But because they have learnt by paying attention that both adversity passes away, and prosperity dawns again, it is fitly added; And again after darkness I look for light.
This torture of the heart was not even interrupted by night which is the time set aside for man's rest, and so he then says, "They have turned night into day," because of the reflection previously mentioned he spent the night in insomnia as though …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Note, The period of our days will be the period of all our contrivances and hopes for this world; but, if with full purpose of heart we cleave to the Lord, death will not break off that purpose. Job, being thus put upon new counsels, was under a constant uneasiness (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
They - My thoughts so incessantly pursue and disturb me, that I can no more sleep in the night, than in the day. The light - The day-light, which often gives some comfort to men in misery, seems to be gone as soon as it is begun.
They change the night into day,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble; but we may reduce what is here said to three heads:-- I.
(2.) To the entertainments of the day. "The light of the morning is welcome, but, by reason of this inward darkness, the comfort of it is soon gone, and the day is to me as dismal as the black and dark night," Deut. xxviii.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Or better for "short," the Hebrew "near"; "and the light of new prosperity should be near in the face of (before) the darkness of death"; that is, they would persuade me that light is near, even though darkness approaches.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They change - The word “they” in this place, some understand as referring to his friends; others, to his thoughts. Rosenmuller supposes it is to be taken impersonally, and that the meaning is, “night is become day to me.” Wemyss translates it, “night is assigned me for day.” So Dr. Good renders it. The meaning may be, that the night was to him as the day. He had no rest. The period when he had formerly sought repose, was now made like the day, and all was alike gloom and sadness. The light is short because of darkness - Margin, near. The meaning is, probably, “even the day has lost its usual brilliancy and cheerfulness, and has become gloomy and sad. It seems to be like night. Neither night nor day is natural to me; the one is restless and full of cares like the usual employments of day, and the other is gloomy, or almost night, where there is no comfort and peace. Day brings to me none of its usual enjoyments. It is short, gloomy, sad, and hastens away, and a distressing and restless night soon comes on.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
They turn night into day These mockers turn night into day for me, for I cannot sleep at night because of the trouble of the mockings.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
My days etc. Behold, the days of my prosperity, to which I became accustomed, have passed.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לַ֭יְלָה | laylah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| לְי֣וֹם | leyom | into day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יָשִׂ֑ימוּ | yasimu | they make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| א֝֗וֹר | ʾor | light | H216 → | 121 times |
| קָר֥וֹב | karov | [is] near | H7138 → | 77 times |
| מִפְּנֵי־ | mipenei- | from before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
לַ֭יְלָהnight
laylahH3915 →233 times
לְי֣וֹםinto day
leyomH3117 →2304 times
יָשִׂ֑ימוּthey make
yasimuH7760 →584 times
א֝֗וֹרlight
ʾorH216 →121 times
קָר֥וֹב[is] near
karovH7138 →77 times
מִפְּנֵי־from before
mipenei-H6440 →2123 times
חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃darkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
3 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 28:67In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:34
You will be driven mad by the sights you see.
- Job 7:3–4
So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.
- Revelation 9:6
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
- Deuteronomy 28:34
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.