Said: or perhaps “shouted back,” in view of the context.
As God lives: this expression, also found in Job 27.2, is a way of swearing in the strongest possible terms. A similar expression using the name of YHWH, “as the LORD lives,” is much more frequent, occurring thirty-five times in the Old Testament (including Judges 8.19; Ruth 3.13; 1 Sam 14.39 and 2 Sam 4.9). This may be stated in a variety of ways in different languages. For example, “I promise, with God as my witness,” or “In the presence of God, I affirm,” or “I make a vow in the name of God.”
If you had not spoken: some languages will require that the content of what was spoken be made clear. This almost certainly refers to what Abner had just said about the risk of continuing the battle. Bible en français courant clarifies the meaning by saying “if you had not asked for this break….” In other cases one may say simply “if you had not said that…” (referring to Abner’s words) or, more generally, “if you had not said something….”
A slight change in the spelling of the word not will change this Hebrew word to “only.” The meaning would then be “If you had only spoken [earlier during the battle], the men would have stopped fighting earlier that same morning.” Though this change has been noted by interpreters, it has not been accepted by translators.
The men: literally “the people” (as in verse 26).
Their brethren: in replying to Abner, Joab uses the same kind of indirect reference as Abner used in the previous verse. But here it is better translated by the plural pronoun “you,” since Joab is speaking to and about his opponents.
Would have given up … in the morning: there is a problem here in deciding which morning is referred to. Is it the previous morning or the following one (so Good News Translation)? Like Good News Translation, New International Version indicates that “in the morning” refers to the following morning: “If you had not spoken, the men would have continued the pursuit of their brothers until morning.” The Hebrew may also be understood to mean that Joab’s troops would definitely have continued to pursue Abner until the next morning if Abner had not spoken up. This interpretation gives nearly the same meaning as that in Good News Translation. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, for example, says “if you hadn’t spoken up, the troops would have given up the pursuit of their kinsmen only the next morning.” It is possible to understand the Hebrew to mean that, if Abner had not issued the challenge at the pool of Gibeon that morning, the soldiers would have gone home then without ever fighting. The alternate translation in New International Version follows this second interpretation: “If you had not spoken this morning, the men would not have taken up the pursuit of their brothers.” The meaning of the text is probably best conveyed by the interpretation which is the basis for the New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and Good News Translation translations.
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 .