2 Samuel 18:8
For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
The battle was scattered over the face of all the country and pressed into the forest, rather than decided on open ground. There Absalom's forces, though large in number, were undisciplined and unable to keep order among the trees. Thickets and marshes broke their ranks and confused their movements, so that the ground itself worked against them. In that wood more men perished by the perils of the forest than fell by the sword, and the very size of the rebel host became a disadvantage in the entanglement.