Numbers 31:15

15 And Moses said to them, "You have kept alive every female?

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 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.

14 But Moses was angry toward the leaders of the troops, the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, who came from the battle of the war.

15 And Moses said to them, "You have kept alive every female?

16 Behold, these women {caused} the {Israelites}, by the word of Balaam, to be in apostasy against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so that the plague was among the community of Yahweh.

17 Now kill every male among the little children, and kill every woman who has {had sexual intercourse with a man}.