Saddle the ass for me: Translators will have to decide whether it is more natural in their language to translate this sentence as a direct quotation, following the Hebrew and Revised Standard Version, or as indirect speech as in Good News Translation.

For saddle and ass, see 1 Kgs 2.40.

He mounted it: This clause must be seen in its context and taken with the following verse. If the sentence ends here, as in Revised Standard Version, it leaves the strange impression that the elderly prophet got on the donkey but did not move. In fact, he got on the donkey and rode away after the other prophet. It is therefore probably unwise to make a sentence break at the end of this verse. Or the implied information (“and he rode off”) may be supplied.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .