Numbers 31:15

15 "What's this! You've let these 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, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet the returning army outside the camp.
14 Moses was furious with the army officers - the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds - as they came back from the battlefield:
15 "What's this! You've let these women live!
16 They're the ones who, under Balaam's direction, seduced the People of Israel away from God in that mess at Peor, causing the plague that hit God's people.
17 Finish your job: kill all the boys. Kill every woman who has slept with a man.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.