Job 17:16

They] RV 'it' (i.e. his hope). Bars of the pit] the gates of the world of the dead: cp. Isaiah 38:10. When, etc.] RV 'when once there is rest in the dust.' Job moves forward in this speech to the great thought that after he is dead, God will clear his reputation of the stain placed upon it by his disasters, which seemed to the world to prove his guilt. He does not expect the old relations between God and himself to be renewed, but since he cannot bear the thought that he will be permanently branded as an evil-doer, he wins the conviction that he will ultimately be righted. And since God alone can or will clear his honour (for man cannot and will not) he is assured that God, who is now slaying him by slow torture, will at last vindicate him. God's present mood is not an index to His permanent character.