The gate: see the comment on 4.18. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “at the gate of the city.” But the translation of the word for a city gate may be very difficult in languages where city walls are unknown. Some have to say “the place [or, hole] in the wall where people go in and out of the city.”

Tell me: after the verb tell, the Hebrew contains a word of entreaty that is difficult to translate. Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation translates it. This word expresses a sense of urgency. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh captures the sense by saying “Tell me, please.” In some cases the particle of entreaty may come more naturally at the beginning of the statement. See the comments on 2.36.

The seer: see the comments on verse 9.

If indirect discourse is preferred, this verse may be translated:

• Then Saul went to Samuel by the city gate and asked him where he might find the house of the seer.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .