It was told to Saul: in order to avoid the passive, these words may be rendered “someone told Saul” or “Saul found out [or learned, or heard].”

God has given him into my hand: many interpreters since the past century have understood the Hebrew verb translated has given him to mean “has made a stranger [of him].” Not finding any sense in this verb, they have followed the Septuagint or corrected the Hebrew verb. Even New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which usually follows the Masoretic Text, states that the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain here. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an {A} rating to the reading in the MT. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, does not even give a rating to the MT, claiming that there is no textual problem. According to Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, specialists have incorrectly identified the meaning of the Hebrew verb in the MT, and the verb does, in fact, mean “to hand [someone] over.”

Into my hand: that is, “into my power.” See verse 4.

The transition word rendered for shows the relationship between Saul’s belief that God had made it possible for him to catch David and the fact that David had gone inside a walled city, where the gates could be locked. This relationship should be clear to the readers and hearers of the receptor language.

A town that has gates and bars: see the comments on 4.18; also Deut 3.5. That Keilah had gates with bars to secure the gate indicates that this city was “fortified” (Good News Translation). Revised English Bible says “a walled town with its barred gates.” Perhaps clearer is Contemporary English Version, which has “a walled town where the gates can be locked.”

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 .