'Refrained' in the Bible

The princes stopped talkingAnd put their hands on their mouths;

But ten men who were among them said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us! We have stores of wheat and barley and oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions.

But I call on God as my soul’s witness, that it was to spare you [pain and discouragement] that I did not come again to Corinth—