Job 17:12

This verse appears to be a description by Job of the delusive and foolish proceeding of his friends.

They change the night into day The night of calamity and death in which Job is enveloped and into which he is entering more deeply they change into the day of life and renewed prosperity. While in truth the shadows of the final night encompass Job the friends are for ever pretending that the bright day of restoration is going to dawn (cf. ch. Job 5:17 seq., Job 8:20 seq. &c.). The second clause of the verse is obscure.

the light is short because of darkness The meaning of the A.V. is not easy to perceive. The words most naturally continue Job's account of the representations of his friends, and express what they hold out. The fair literal rendering is either, the light is near the face of darkness; or, the light is nearer than the face of darkness. The light, the same as the "day" of the first clause, is life and prosperity; this the friends make out to be near, close upon, the face of darkness Job's present condition of affliction. The other translation, "nearer than the face of darkness," gives a fuller sense to the phrase face of darkness. By this expression Job means the darkness of death, whose face was visible and manifest, so close was it upon him.