The young men bore the burden of the mill,
And the children stumbled under the wood.
The use of hand mills with which people in ancient towns regularly ground their grain was commonplace. But it was seen as the work of women or slaves. Now, however, it was the young men of Israel who were being forced to carry the mills to wherever they were needed, and were then required to operate them in order to grind the grain (see Judges 16:21, which was however a larger mill). And the younger children who were being forced into service carrying wood under which they staggered because of the weight. They had become an enslaved people.