Who has prescribed for him his way…? is the first of two rhetorical questions in this verse, both of which Good News Translation expresses as statements. The first question follows the form of the question Elihu asked in 34.13, except for the final word. However, here the sense of the verb is “assigned, given,” or, using the words of Good News Translation as a rhetorical question, “Who can tell God what to do?” The answer expected is “No one.” And so Good News Translation has “No one can tell God what to do.”

Since no one has the right to tell God how he should act, the implication of the second line is that God cannot be accused of failing to act in the right way. This line in Hebrew is to be taken as direct address: who can say, ‘Thou hast done wrong’? Whether it is rendered as direct or indirect address will depend upon the best style in the receptor language. The implication for Job is that he should not criticize God for causing him to suffer, but instead he should try to understand what God is seeking to teach him. Verse 23 may also be expressed, for example, “Who can tell God what to do? No one! Or who can say to God ‘You have done wrong’? No one!”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .