Four years: a majority of the manuscripts of the traditional Hebrew text have “forty years” (King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). But Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommend the correction represented by the ancient Greek and Syriac versions (four years) at this point, though giving the recommended reading only a {C} rating. Most modern versions adopt this reading. It is unlikely that it took Absalom forty years to prepare his rebellion. Two manuscripts of the traditional Hebrew text have “forty days,” but no major English version adopts this solution. The four years almost certainly means four years after Absalom had returned to Jerusalem (14.23).
Pray let me …: on this request formula, see 13.6; 14.11; 1 Sam 22.3. Knox has “grant me leave to….” In other languages it will be more natural to begin “I beg you [sir] ….”
Pay my vow: Deut 23.21 imposes a binding obligation on every Israelite that he must not be slack in fulfilling obligations voluntarily undertaken. And in 1 Sam 1.21 the same expression is used of Elkanah. This does not refer to the payment of money. The meaning is to “fulfill a vow” (New American Bible). The idea is that Absalom had made a promise to the LORD that he would worship God in Hebron one day, if the LORD would allow him to return to Jerusalem. The following verse makes this much clearer. Now that Absalom was back in Jerusalem, he wanted to do what he had promised. Or at least this is what he pretended. In some languages this expression will be translated “fulfill a promise I made” or “do what I told God I would do.”
In Hebron: the exact meaning of these words may be a problem for some translators. Do they refer to the place where Absalom supposedly wanted to go to pay his vow, or is it the place where the vow was originally made? The Revised Standard Version rendering may give the impression that it is the place where the vow was originally made. But the clear meaning of the text—especially in the light of the following verse—is rather that it is the place where he wanted to go.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .