en_tn/2sa/02/27.md

Just as God lives

This is a very strong vow. Alternate translation: "With God as my witness" or "God will affirm that I mean what I say"

if you had not said that ... pursued their brothers until the morning

Joab used this contrafactual conditional to tell what would have happened if Abner had not spoken wisely to him. But because Abner said what he said, Joab would tell his soldiers to stop chasing their brothers. (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hypo)