The pronouns you and your are singular in this verse, referring to Saul, and the word for asses is female, as in verses 3 and 5.

Your mind: literally “your heart” (see verse 19). The expression do not set your mind on them means “do not concern yourself about them” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “forget about them.”

For: the transition word here introduces the reason why Saul needs no longer worry about the donkeys: they have been found. In languages in which this passive expression has no literal equivalent, the idea may be expressed “someone has found them” or “they are not lost any longer.”

The meaning of the last part of this verse is much debated. The words And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? are literally “and to [or, for] whom all of that which is desirable [or precious] of Israel?” “Of Israel” may mean either that Israel desires something or that Israel has something that is desired by someone else. The sense may be that Saul should not worry much about lost donkeys, since he will soon have all the wealth of Israel (so Revised English Bible: “To whom does the tribute of all Israel belong? It belongs to you and to your whole ancestral house”; and New Jerusalem Bible: “And for whom is the whole wealth of Israel destined, if not for you and for all the members of your father’s family?”). The alternate rendering in the Good News Translation footnote expresses this interpretation also.

But the translation in the text of Good News Translation seems to be an equally plausible way of reading the Hebrew. Consider also New International Version, which says “And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and all your father’s family?” If this interpretation is accepted, the meaning may have to be communicated in a very different way in certain languages without using the question format: “It is you and your father’s family that all the people of Israel want.”

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 .