And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.

And all they of the land have come into a forest, and there is honey on the face of the field;

And all the common people went into a forest, in which there was honey on the surface of the field.

All they of the land - literally, all the land, probably meaning all those named in 1-Samuel 14:21-22, who now flocked to the wood as a rendezvous.

There was honey upon the ground - There were many wild bees in that country, and Judea is expressly said to be a land flowing with milk and honey.

And all they of the land came to a wood,.... Which lay between Bethaven and Aijalon; by whom are meant not all the inhabitants of the land of Israel, but all that came with Saul and Jonathan, and that joined them in the pursuit:
and there was honey upon the ground; which dropped upon it, as in the following verse, or where it was produced by bees; for Aristotle (r) reports, that bees in some places make their combs upon the ground; this was wild honey, which Diodorus Siculus (s) speaks of as common in Arabia, and which perhaps John the Baptist ate of, Matthew 3:4. Jarchi says, this was the honey of canes, or sugar canes, which grew in the land of Israel; and affirms from Nathan an Ishmaelite, that in the Ishmaelitish or Arabic language they call honey, sugar; but neither of these can be proved.
(r) Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 22. (s) Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 731.

all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey--The honey is described as "upon the ground," "dropping" from the trees, and in honeycombs--indicating it to be bees' honey. "Bees in the East are not, as in England, kept in hives; they are all in a wild state. The forests literally flow with honey; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees as you pass along, full of honey" [ROBERTS].

"And all the land (i.e., all the people of the land who had gathered round Saul: vid., 1-Samuel 14:29) came into the woody country; there was honey upon the field." יער signifies here a woody district, in which forests alternated with tracts of arable land and meadows.