This means that they went out and fought against them in battle. AT: "went out into the countryside and fought against Israel" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])
# against Israel
Here "Israel" refers to their soldiers, not all of the Israelites. AT: "against the Israelite soldiers" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche]])
# The army of Israel was defeated there before the soldiers of David
This can be stated in active form. AT: "There the soldiers of David defeated the army of Israel" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive]])
Here "the forest" is described as if it were alive and could act. "The sword" refers to David's soldiers who fought with swords. AT: "dangerous things in the forest killed more men than David's soldiers killed with their swords" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])