1 Samuel 25:34

34 For in very deed, as the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn't have been left to Naval by the morning light so much as one man-child.

1 Samuel 25:34 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 25:34

For in very deed, [as] the Lord God of Israel liveth
An oath for the confirmation of what he was about to say: which hath kept me back from hurting thee:
from doing any ill to her family, as he intended, though not to her person, his resolution being only to slay the males; but that would have been an hurt, an evil, an affliction to Abigail, from which the Lord in his providence restrained him, and that through her good advice: except thou hadst hasted, and come to meet me:
if she had not made quick dispatch in preparing her present, or had stayed to persuade her husband into her measures; if she had delayed a little longer, David would have been at Nabal's house, executing his vengeance on him and his: surely there had not been left unto Nabal, by the morning light, any
that pisseth against the wall: (See Gill on 1 Samuel 25:22).

1 Samuel 25:34 In-Context

32 David said to Avigayil, Blessed be the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, who sent you this day to meet me:

33 and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

34 For in very deed, as the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn't have been left to Naval by the morning light so much as one man-child.

35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, Go up in shalom to your house; behold, I have listened to your voice, and have accepted your person.

36 Avigayil came to Naval; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Naval's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.