Your servants: the people refer to themselves in the third person. This indirect reference may be better translated by the first person plural object pronoun “us” as in Good News Translation, or by “us, your servants” as in Revised English Bible, New American Bible, and New Century Version.

Even though the Israelite people worship the same God as Samuel, here they say the LORD your God instead of “the LORD, our God.” This way of referring to God is an admission that they have sinned against God and do not have the same standing before God that Samuel has. So it will be important to retain the translation your God while changing your servants to “us” in most languages. See also 15.30.

That we may not die: the people are not asking that God will permit them to live forever. The sense is “Pray to God for us so that God will not cause us to die” or “Ask God not to punish us [for this] by taking our lives.”

We have added to all our sins this evil: this shows an awareness of many other sins against Yahweh prior to the people’s asking for a king. Knox captures the idea by translating “we had sinned enough already, and now we have done him further wrong.”

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 .