Numbers 31:15

15 Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live?

Numbers 31:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:15

And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive?
] Which either had been reported to him, or he concluded, by seeing so many with them; and this question is put, not for information, but by way of reproof, and as chiding them for what they had done; for they might have received orders from him to put them to death, when he sent them out; and if so, there was the more reason to be angry with them; or he might conclude they would have done this of themselves, knowing what instruments of mischief these women had been to Israel.

Numbers 31:15 In-Context

13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs of the community went to meet them outside the camp.

14 Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who came back from the battle.

15 Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live?

16 These very women, on Balaam's advice, made the Israelites break faith with the LORD in the affair at Peor, so there was a plague among the LORD's community.

17 Now kill every male child and every female who has known a man intimately by sleeping with him.