एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेशः परन्तप।न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दमुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह॥
evam-uktvā hṛṣīkeśaṃ guḍākeśaḥ parantapana yotsya iti govindam uktvā tūṣṇīṃ babhūva ha
Word by word
The verse says
Sanjaya said: Having spoken this way to Krishna, Arjuna said, "I will not fight," and fell silent.
In plain words
Four words, and then nothing.
I will not fight. He has asked to be taught, and then, before any teaching arrives, he states his conclusion anyway and stops talking.
It is a very human thing to do. He wants an answer and he has already decided what it is.
Where you've felt this · in relationships
You ask for advice and, in the same breath, say what you are going to do. You do mean the question. You also want the other person to work around a decision you have quietly fixed.
Going deeper
The silence is the real event here, and the text marks it: tūṣṇīṃ babhūva — he became silent.
Arjuna has been talking almost without a break since Chapter 1 verse 28. Forty-odd verses of grief, argument, recited doctrine and appeal. Now he stops. That silence is the space the rest of the Gita will be spoken into.
There is also a contradiction sitting in plain sight, and it is not a flaw in the text. He asked to be taught in verse 7 and refused the outcome in verse 9. Both are sincere. People ask for help and brace against it at the same time.
Krishna notices. His response in the next verse is not to argue with I will not fight — he ignores it completely. It is treated as noise from a man who has already admitted his judgement is not working.
By Chapter 18 verse 73, Arjuna will say the opposite: I will do as you say. The book runs between those two sentences.