For the historical events referred to in this verse see 1 Samuel 10.21-24. They asked for a king must be made more specific in a number of languages, “they asked Samuel to name a king for them” or “they asked Samuel to appoint a king to rule them.” This must not, however, imply that Saul was already a king and he was simply taking over the territory of the Israelites. Rather, the implication must be that Saul is made to be a king over the Israelites.

The term gave in an expression such as God gave them Saul is frequently misleading. Rather, one must have “God caused them to have Saul as king” or “God appointed for them Saul as king.”

To be their king is clearly implied in the Greek text and is stated explicitly by the Good News Translation in order to aid the English reader in understanding an otherwise ambiguous construction (see Revised Standard Version “… and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years”).

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .