So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.
So Saul ... fought against all his enemies on every side. This signal triumph over the Philistines was followed, not only by their expulsion from the land of Israel, but by successful incursions against various hostile neighbours, on the east as well as west of the Jordan, whom he harassed, though he did not subdue them.
Kings of Zobah - in northern Syria, adjoining Hamath on the north, and extending to the Euphrates. It was a rich and important region. In the time of Saul it was governed by a number of petty but independent rulers, whom he "vexed."