Revised Standard Version reflects the form of the Hebrew text by repeating the words of the people as a direct quotation. Good News Translation restructures and says “their request for a king.” This model may serve well in other languages where direct quotations are used less frequently than in Hebrew.

Displeased Samuel: literally “was evil in the eyes of Samuel” (so Fox, Chouraqui). In many languages it will be more natural to change the order of the words in this part of the verse, making Samuel the subject of the sentence instead of the thing. Some other possible renderings are “Samuel was not pleased” (New Century Version) and “Samuel thought that it was wrong of them…” (New Jerusalem Bible).

To govern: as in verse 5, this is the same Hebrew word translated “judge” elsewhere.

The conjunction introducing the final sentence of this verse may be understood as a marker of result. It was because of the elders’ request that Samuel felt the need to pray to Yahweh. For this reason the conjunction may be rendered “so” (New Jerusalem Bible and New International Version as well as Good News Translation). Many English versions, however, leave it untranslated.

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 .