Numbers 31:14

14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army who had returned from the battle. Some of them were the commanders of thousands of men. Others were the commanders of hundreds.

Numbers 31:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:14

And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host
The general officers who had the command of the army, for there does not appear to be anyone that was one general over the whole, otherwise the displeasure would have fallen upon him:

[with] the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which
came from the battle;
rather "with" should be left out, not being in the text; and these captains only explain who the officers were, and these were one hundred and thirty two, as Aben Ezra observes; twelve who were captains over thousands, and were more properly the general officers; and one hundred and twenty over so many hundreds, into which the whole were subdivided.

Numbers 31:14 In-Context

12 They brought back to Israel's camp the prisoners and everything else they had taken. They took them to Moses and to the priest Eleazar. They brought them to the whole community. Israel was camped on the flatlands of Moab. They were by the Jordan River across from Jericho.

13 Moses and the priest Eleazar went to meet them outside the camp. So did all of the leaders of the community.

14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army who had returned from the battle. Some of them were the commanders of thousands of men. Others were the commanders of hundreds.

15 "Have you let all of the women remain alive?" Moses asked them.

16 "The women followed Balaam's advice. They caused the people of Israel to turn away from the Lord. The people worshiped the god Baal that was worshiped at Peor. So a plague struck them.