It is not only Jerusalem that suffered, but also her surrounding territory — the land of Judah. This indicates the destruction of the whole populace. The young men and the young women have been lost.1 See also Lamentations 2:21–22. The addition of the word virgin
indicates the critical contrast between Judah’s state as the people of God and her state of being trampled by the heathens.2 Jerusalem interpreted her special covenantal position wrongly as a token that she is inviolable. Furthermore, virgin
depicts a woman who normally would still have her whole future before her. In this instance, God brings devastation upon her, which adds to the poignancy of this dire situation.3
15 “The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.