When translates the common Hebrew conjunction waw. Two actions are mentioned in this verse: (1) the ark is captured, and (2) it is carried to Ashdod. To indicate more precisely that one event happened after the other and not at the same time, Good News Translation translates the conjunction with the word “After.” In other languages it may be more natural to use a word like “Then” between the two parts of the sentence. New American Bible makes the first element into a participial phrase: “Having captured the Ark of God.”

The ark of God: see the comments on 3.3.

From Ebenezer to Ashdod: regarding Ebenezer, see 4.1. Ashdod, located about four kilometers (two and one-half miles) inland from the Mediterranean Sea and about forty-five kilometers (twenty-eight miles) west of Jerusalem, was one of five major Philistine cities (see the comment on verse 8; also 6.17) and was located southeast of Ebenezer. Since many readers today will not know that Ashdod was a city, it may be helpful to add the qualifier “the city of” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente) or “their city of” (Good News Translation).

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 .