The battle: that is, the struggle between the two opposing armies. Instead of saying The battle spread, it may be more natural in certain languages to say “the armies fought [all over the countryside].” It will probably also be unnatural to translate literally the face of all the country. The meaning is rather “throughout the region.”

The forest devoured more people … than the sword: there are two categories of fatalities in this battle. Both are presented in figurative terms in this verse. First there were those killed by soldiers of the opposing army (the sword). But there were also people who died because of the dangers of the dense forest. This may have included snakes, wild animals, poisonous plants, and perhaps traps set by David’s men, who were skilled in guerilla warfare. The forest was also at least partly responsible for the death of Absalom, since his hair was caught in a tree, and this left him unprotected before his enemies. The imagery of the forest devouring people may be better translated less literally in many languages. Some may say something like “the number of people who died because of the dangers of the forest was greater than the number of those who were killed by their enemies.” The note in Fox‘s translation seems to express the writer’s intention here in referring to the forest: “Ultimately the victory is attributable to God, not to David’s army.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .