Job 17:12 kjv
They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:12 nkjv
They change the night into day; 'The light is near,' they say, in the face of darkness.
Job 17:12 niv
turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.
Job 17:12 esv
They make night into day: 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'
Job 17:12 nlt
These men say that night is day;
they claim that the darkness is light.
Job 17 12 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference Note |
|---|---|---|
| Is 5:20 | Woe to those who call evil good and good evil... who put darkness for light and light for darkness... | Inverts moral truth, echoing Job's perversion of reality. |
| Prov 13:12 | Hope deferred makes the heart sick... | Job's hope is not just deferred but mocked by his reality. |
| Jer 14:19 | We looked for peace, but no good came... for a time of healing, but behold, terror! | Lament similar to Job's dashed expectations. |
| Lam 3:17-18 | my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. So I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” | Explicit declaration of lost hope due to suffering. |
| Job 6:11 | What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? | Job's recognition of the futility of enduring. |
| Job 7:6 | My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope. | Emphasizes the swift decay of life without expectation. |
| Ps 30:5 | Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. | Counter-narrative to Job's experience where joy doesn't come. |
| Ps 42:11 | Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God... | Internal struggle common to the Psalms, contrasting Job's lack of hope. |
| Amos 5:18 | Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light. | A divine "day of light" turns into judgment/darkness, echoing Job's perception. |
| Rom 13:11-12 | Besides this you know the time, that it is already the hour for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now... Let us then cast off the works of darkness... | Positive 'light is near' theme in NT, contrasting Job's negative. |
| 1 Thes 5:5 | For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of night or of darkness. | Believers associated with light, contrasting Job's association with darkness. |
| Is 45:7 | I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity... | God's sovereign control over both light and darkness, which Job perceives is working against him. |
| Jn 3:19-20 | And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light... | Humanity's preference for darkness, contrasting God's provision of light. |
| 1 Jn 1:6 | If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. | Associating darkness with unrighteousness, adding weight to Job's plight. |
| Eccl 7:8 | Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. | Wise saying on enduring suffering, which Job questions is possible for him. |
| Jer 8:15 | We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror. | Parallel lamentation over shattered hope and expectation. |
| Ps 88:18 | You have removed far from me friend and neighbor; my companions are in darkness. | Similar imagery of abandonment and dwelling in darkness. |
| Is 8:22 | They will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish... and they will be thrust into thick darkness. | Prophetic picture of utter despair and absence of light. |
| Job 19:8 | He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. | Direct statement by Job regarding God surrounding him with darkness. |
| 2 Cor 4:6 | For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light... | Divine power bringing light into dark situations, often withheld from Job. |
| Ps 112:4 | Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; gracious, merciful, and righteous. | Implies Job's deep suffering is an inverse of what he might expect. |
| Luke 11:35 | See that the light within you is not darkness. | Highlights the potential for inner perception of light to be obscured or false. |
Job 17 verses
Job 17 12 Meaning
Job 17:12 profoundly expresses Job's distorted reality and profound despair. He observes that others (or his own desperate mind) attempt to portray his future as bright and hopeful ("light is near"), while his overwhelming personal experience remains one of consuming "darkness" and imminent demise. It's a bitter lament where the natural order and human perceptions of hope are inverted, highlighting the deep chasm between Job's inner suffering and any outward show of comfort or impending relief.
Job 17 12 Context
Job chapter 17 is a continuation of Job's profound lament and direct appeal to God, as well as his rebuke of his three friends. Having endured extreme suffering, physical decay, and constant accusations from his friends, Job has abandoned all hope of earthly recovery or vindication by man. He foresees his impending death and the finality of the grave as his only release. He complains that his friends have been miserable comforters, whose words only deepen his despair. Verse 12 encapsulates Job's state of mind: despite others offering empty platitudes of future comfort ("light is near"), Job's lived reality is that "darkness is at hand"—a symbolic reference to death, the grave, and the continuation of his immense suffering. He feels entirely consumed by the present darkness and views any talk of light as a cruel irony or a complete misreading of his desperate situation.
Job 17 12 Word analysis
- They: Hebrew: hēmmâ (הֵמָּה). This pronoun is ambiguous. It could refer to Job's friends, who offer unhelpful and false assurances, or it could refer to a general perception or the distorted thinking of someone in despair, perhaps even Job's own mind struggling to reconcile hope with his grim reality. It indicates a source outside of Job's own genuine inner state.
- turn: Implies a radical alteration of perspective or a deceptive redefinition of circumstances. It's not a literal transformation, but a verbal or conceptual one.
- night: Hebrew: laylāh (לַיְלָה). Represents darkness, sorrow, affliction, distress, and death. It's the period of cessation, danger, and lack of clarity.
- into day: Hebrew: l'yôm (לְיוֹם). Represents light, life, hope, joy, and clarity. The act of "turning night into day" is an inversion of the natural order, suggesting a severe cognitive or perceptual distortion, either from external sources trying to console Job, or his internal experience.
- the light: Hebrew: ʾôr (אוֹר). Signifies hope, understanding, well-being, life, prosperity, salvation, or comfort. In this context, it represents the promise or expectation of a better future.
- is near: Hebrew: qārōv (קָרוֹב). Indicates proximity in time or space. The "nearness" of light signifies an impending positive change.
- when darkness: Hebrew: ḥōšeḵ (חֹשֶׁךְ). Re-emphasizes the reality of sorrow, distress, death, and obscurity. It directly contrasts the 'light'.
- is at hand: Hebrew: mippənê (מִפְּנֵי). Literally "from the face of" or "in the presence of," "on account of," indicating imminent presence or overwhelming encounter. The phrase emphasizes that darkness is not merely present but confronting or enveloping Job.
Words-group by words-group analysis
- They turn night into day: This phrase highlights the profound disconnect between Job’s suffering and the perceptions (or expressed comforts) of others. It implies a cruel irony where what is unequivocally dark and painful is labeled or declared to be light and hopeful. It speaks to a deep psychological perversion or denial of reality in the face of immense pain, possibly representing the superficial and ultimately unhelpful advice of his friends, or the futility of even self-generated false hope.
- saying, 'The light is near': This is the declared hopeful pronouncement. It suggests a claim of proximity to deliverance, vindication, or alleviation of suffering. For Job, it represents a mockery because he feels profoundly distant from any such "light." This is either the empty reassurance offered by his companions, or Job himself, in a state of utter desolation, acknowledging the natural human tendency to hope for reprieve, only to find it entirely absent.
- when darkness is at hand: This phrase brings a stark, tragic reality to the forefront. It contrasts sharply with the "light is near" assertion, demonstrating the agonizing gap between perception and truth. "Darkness at hand" means suffering, despair, and ultimately death are not merely possibilities but are palpable and immediately present for Job, overriding any optimistic projections. It signifies the overwhelming reality that is consuming him, making any thought of light or relief a painful lie.
Job 17 12 Bonus section
The verse encapsulates what scholars refer to as Job's "cosmic desolation"—a feeling that the very fabric of reality, including the order of day and night, has been turned against him or is operating in a way that mocks his existence. This goes beyond mere depression; it's an ontological crisis where the victim sees the fundamental principles of life and hope corrupted or reversed. The phrase "darkness is at hand" (mippənê ḥōšeḵ) implies being swallowed or overwhelmed by it, emphasizing the immersive nature of his affliction rather than merely its presence. This can be understood as Job experiencing an anti-epiphany, where instead of a revelation of light or divine truth, he experiences the tangible presence of all that is chaotic and destructive.
Job 17 12 Commentary
Job 17:12 is a powerful expression of Job’s absolute despair, illustrating how intense suffering can completely invert one's perception of reality. For Job, hope, which should bring comfort ("light"), has become an elusive concept, replaced by an overwhelming sense of doom and the encroaching presence of "darkness." The "they" who turn "night into day" could be his friends, offering false comfort, or simply a representation of how his mind processes the agonizing contrast between a hoped-for future and his grim present. The verse tragically highlights that while others may speak of future relief or spiritual light, Job's experience is dominated by an immediate, engulfing gloom, making any promise of "light" feel like a cruel joke or a deluded fantasy. It underscores the profound disconnect between the sufferer's inner world and external consolations.