Job 17:12

12. Night into day Literally, they put night for the day That is, day hath become night to me. ישׂימו , is used impersonally. Conant’s rendering, “Night is joined to day.” is not sustained.

The light is short. Among the various readings is that of Hahn and Zockler: “Light is near in the presence of darkness:” that is, such is the representation made by the friends when really there is nothing but darkness. Dillmann and Ewald make מן a comparative, nearer than a feeble and inconsequential thought. The reading of Hengstenberg, the light is near to darkness, which substantially agrees with that of Evans, is decidedly to be preferred. The light of my life is near the darkness of death. The Latin language, like the Arabic, has a similar construction to express “nearness from” prope abesse a. The full development of this thought, says Wordsworth, (following the first reading above,) is found in the sublime speech of the Christian martyr Saint Ignatius, on the eve of suffering, to his friends who persuaded him to sue for a prolongation of life: “My birth is at hand. O, my friends, do not hinder me from living. Do not desire that I should die. Let me have a sight of that pure light. Let me have a sunset to the world, that I may have a sunrise to God.”