2 Samuel 18:7

7 and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day -- twenty thousand;

2 Samuel 18:7 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 18:7

Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of
David
That is, the people of Israel that were under Absalom, these were beaten by David's army:

and there was a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand [men];
including both those that fell in the field of battle, and that were slain in the pursuit; and this is to be understood only of Absalom's party.

2 Samuel 18:7 In-Context

5 and the king chargeth Joab, and Abishai, and Ittai, saying, `Gently -- for me, for the youth, for Absalom;' and all the people heard in the king's charging all the heads concerning Absalom.

6 And the people goeth out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle is in a forest of Ephraim;

7 and smitten there are the people of Israel before the servants of David, and the smiting there is great on that day -- twenty thousand;

8 and the battle is there scattered over the face of all the land, and the forest multiplieth to devour among the people more than those whom the sword hath devoured in that day.

9 And Absalom meeteth before the servants of David, and Absalom is riding on the mule, and the mule cometh in under an entangled bough of the great oak, and his head taketh hold on the oak, and he is placed between the heavens and the earth, and the mule that [is] under him hath passed on.