2nd Samuel Chapter 2 verse 27 Holy Bible
And Joab said, As God liveth, if thou hadst not spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone away, nor followed every one his brother.
read chapter 2 in ASV
And Joab said, By the living God, if you had not given the word, the people would have gone on attacking their countrymen till the morning.
read chapter 2 in BBE
And Joab said, [As] God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.
read chapter 2 in DARBY
And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.
read chapter 2 in KJV
And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.
read chapter 2 in WBT
Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone away, nor followed everyone his brother.
read chapter 2 in WEB
And Joab saith, `God liveth! for unless thou hadst spoken, surely then from the morning had the people gone up each from after his brother.'
read chapter 2 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 27. - Unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up; or as the Revised Version renders, had gone away, nor followed every man his brother. The Revised Version makes the sense more plain. Joab throws the whole blame, and rightly so, on Abner. David would under no circumstances have attacked Ishbosheth, and Joab with his men had marched to the tank of Gibeon simply to repel an invading force. When there, Joab, doubtless by David's orders, had remained strictly on the defensive, and so unwilling were both armies to fight, that Abner had to resort to a most cruel scene of butchery in order to inflame their passions and force them to begin a conflict of brother against brother. But for Abner's challenge, both armies would have separated as friends. And Joab still acts upon the same principle of forbearance, and gives the signal for stopping the pursuit. He was not a man of a tender heart, but he was wise and sensible, and fully aware that the slaughter of Abner and his men, even if he could have destroyed them all, would only have rankled in the minds of all Israel, and set them against David and his rule.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(27) Unless thou hadst spoken.--Joab's reply to Abner admits of either of two interpretations: (1) Joab seeks to throw the whole blame of the conflict upon Abner, by saying that if he had not proposed the combat between the champions (2Samuel 2:14) there would have been no battle, but "the people" of both sides would have separated peaceably at Gibeon; or (2), as the phrase is more generally and more probably under. stood, that Joab had intended to keep up the pursuit only until the following morning, but as Abner already sued for mercy, he was content, and would stop now.
