Ekhah 1:15

15 Hashem hath taken away all my strong ones in my midst; He hath proclaimed a mo’ed (set time) against me to crush my young men; Hashem hath trodden the winepress for the Betulat Bat Yehudah.

Ekhah 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.

Ekhah 1:15 In-Context

13 From above hath He sent eish into my atzamot (bones), and it prevaileth against them; He hath spread a net for my feet, He hath turned me back; He hath made me desolate and kol hayom (ever) languishing.

14 The yoke of my peysha’im hath been fastened by His hand; they [i.e., my sins] intertwine themselves and set upon my tzavar (neck); He hath made my strength to fall; Hashem hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

15 Hashem hath taken away all my strong ones in my midst; He hath proclaimed a mo’ed (set time) against me to crush my young men; Hashem hath trodden the winepress for the Betulat Bat Yehudah.

16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with mayim, because the Menachem (comforter) that should refresh my nefesh is far from me; my children are desolate, because the enemy hath prevailed.

17 Tziyon stretcheth forth her hands, yet there is no Menachem (comforter) for her; Hashem hath commanded concerning Ya’akov, that his adversaries should be round about him; Yerushalayim is as a niddah (menstruous woman) among them.