For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.

For thy servant made avow, when he was in Gessur of Syria, saying: If the Lord shall bring me again into Jerusalem I will offer sacrifice to the Lord.

for a vow hath thy servant vowed in my dwelling in Geshur, in Aram, saying, If Jehovah doth certainly bring me back to Jerusalem, then I have served Jehovah.'

For while I was living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made an oath, saying, If ever the Lord lets me come back to Jerusalem, I will give him worship in Hebron.

For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Aram, saying: If the LORD shall indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.'

For your servant made a vow, when he was in Geshur of Syria, saying: If the Lord will lead me back to Jerusalem, I will sacrifice to the Lord."

While I abode at Geshur in Syria - Geshur, the country of Talmai, was certainly not in Syria, but lay on the south of Canaan, in or near Edom, as is evident from Judges 1:10; 1-Samuel 27:8; 2-Samuel 13:37. Hence it is probable that ארם Aram, Syria, is a mistake for אדם Edom; ד daleth and ר resh being easily interchangeable. Edom is the reading both of the Syriac and Arabic.
I will serve the Lord - Here he pretended to be a strict follower of Jehovah, even while he was in a heathen country; and now he desires liberty to go and perform a vow at Hebron, which he pretends to have made while he was resident at Geshur. And all this was the more perfectly to organize his system of rebellion against his venerable father.

For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will (f) serve the LORD.
(f) By offering a peace-offering, which was lawful to do in any place.

For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria,.... When at his grandfather's court there:
saying, if the Lord will bring me again indeed to Jerusalem; which he might be sincerely desirous of:
then I will serve the Lord; but it is a question whether he ever made a vow to this purpose, or concerned himself about serving the Lord; but it rather may be, this was a lie of his, now framed in order to get leave of the king to go to Hebron.