Bible Strands
Lamentations 1:15
The Lord has rejected all the mighty men in my midst; He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. Like grapes in a winepress, the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker is the personified city of Jerusalem, addressing God and the surrounding nations during a public lament following the Babylonian destruction. The moment captures the immediate aftermath of military defeat and the withdrawal of divine protection.
The words — The Hebrew verb סִלָּ֨ה (si.Lah) literally means "he has cast away" or "rejected," and מוֹעֵ֖ד (mo.'Ed) denotes an "appointed assembly" or summoned gathering. These terms frame the destruction as a deliberate, convened judgment rather than random violence.
The thread — The winepress imagery directly parallels Isaiah 63:3, where God treads the press alone in anger, and contrasts with Malachi 4:3, which promises the righteous will later trample the wicked. The summoned assembly against Judah aligns with the overwhelming scourge warned of in Isaiah 28:18.
Why it lands — The text states that divine rejection has stripped Jerusalem of its defenders and reduced its people to crushed grapes. It requires the reader to acknowledge that covenant failure produces irreversible consequences before any appeal for comfort or restoration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 63:3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained.
- Isaiah 28:18 Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
- Malachi 4:3 Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Luke 21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- Hebrews 10:29 How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
- Revelation 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
- Revelation 19:15 And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
- Deuteronomy 28:33 A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Judges 10:8 who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and they did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
- 2 Kings 9:33 “Throw her down!” yelled Jehu. So they threw her down, and her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses as they trampled her underfoot.