Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 17:12

"They change the night into day: The light, [say they], is near unto the darkness." — Job 17:12 (ASV)

They change the night into day. — Compare Job 11:17. So little did his friends empathize with his situation that they wanted him to believe that his night of trial was the opposite of darkness, and that light was near.

This was to him only a more painful mockery because of its contrast to his actual condition. He, on the contrary, says that his only hope is in the grave. “The light,” they say, “is near to the darkness; that it is near before the darkness comes; they try to persuade me that prosperity is close at hand.”