So: this translates the common Hebrew conjunction, which may be taken as a logical connector (New Revised Standard Version also), as a temporal connector (“Then”), or simply omitted. Naturalness in the receptor language should determine which option is followed.

All the words is probably not to be taken as a special emphasis on each individual word spoken by the LORD. Rather it merely means “everything that the LORD had said” (Good News Translation) or “[the message] in full” (New American Bible).

As noted in 1.20, the name “Saul” comes from the same root as the verb “to ask.” The original readers would have seen a play on words here in the verb were asking and the fact that Saul was their first king. However, such a play on words can seldom be retained in a translation; a footnote may be useful.

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 .