Since Saul has just been speaking to God and is now speaking to the leaders of the people of Israel, Good News Translation correctly indicates this change. In effect, you leaders of the people is taken out of the direct quotation and made a part of the introduction to it.

Leaders: the Hebrew word means “corner,” “cornerstone,” “corner tower.” Fox says “cornerstones” but places the word in quotation marks to show a nonliteral meaning is intended. The term is used here in a figurative sense as the leaders are compared to the cornerstone of a building, as also in Judges 20.2 and Isa 19.13. As is often true in 1 Samuel, the people here refers to Saul’s army. Compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, “Come forward, all chief officers of the troops.”

How this sin has arisen today: this seems to refer to some specific, known sin with the question being precisely how it happened. But this is not the case. Rather Saul is aware that there is some sin that is causing God to remain silent. But he does not know what the sin is. The meaning to be translated is therefore “where the sin lies this day” (Revised English Bible) or “what sin has kept God from answering” (Contemporary English Version). Another slightly different way of understanding this is to take the word translated sin as meaning “guilt.” The question would then be “how this guilt was incurred today” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

If direct speech is to be avoided, translators may wish to say something like:

• Saul called the army officers together in order to try to find out what sin had occurred that day to prevent God from answering him.

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 .