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.