Lamentations 1:15

15 "All the strong men within my walls Adonai has rejected. He has set a specific time for crushing my young men. Adonai has trodden, like grapes in a winepress, the virgin daughter of Y'hudah.

Lamentations 1:15 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 1:15

The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty [men] in the
midst of me
As a causeway is trodden; or as mire is trodden under foot in the streets; so were the mighty and valiant men, the soldiers and men of war, trodden under foot and destroyed by the Chaldeans in the streets of Jerusalem, and in the midst of Judea; the Lord so permitting it: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men;
the army of the Chaldeans, which were brought against Jerusalem by a divine appointment and call; against whom the choicest and stoutest of them, even their young men, could not stand; but were crushed and broken to pieces by them. The word for "assembly" sometimes signifies an appointed time; a time fixed for solemn festivals, and for calling the people to them; and so the Targum here,

``he hath called or appointed a time to break the strength of my young men;''

the time of Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, [as] in a
winepress;
in the winepress of his wrath; or however in the winepress of the Babylonians, who are compared to one; into whose hands the Jews falling, were like grapes cast into a winepress, and there trodden by men, in order to squeeze and get out the wine; and in like manner were their blood squeezed out of them and shed. The Targum interprets it of the blood of virginity being poured out, as wine in a press; the virgins of Judah being ravished and defiled by the enemy.

Lamentations 1:15 In-Context

13 "From on high, he sent down fire deep into my bones; he spread a net to catch my feet; he turned me back; he left me desolate, in misery all day long.

14 "My sins have been bound into a yoke, knit together by his hand. It weighs down on my neck, and it saps my strength. Adonai has put me into the power of those I cannot withstand.

15 "All the strong men within my walls Adonai has rejected. He has set a specific time for crushing my young men. Adonai has trodden, like grapes in a winepress, the virgin daughter of Y'hudah.

16 "Because of these things, I weep; my eyes, my eyes stream with tears; for anyone who could comfort me and revive my courage is far away. My children are in a state of shock, because the enemy has prevailed."

17 Tziyon spreads out her hands, but no one is there to console her. Concerning Ya'akov, ADONAI has ordered those around him to be his foes; Yerushalayim has become for them an unclean, filthy thing.