Numbers 31:14

14 And Moses was angry with the captains of the host, the heads of thousands and the heads of hundreds who came from the battle-array.

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 And they brought to Moses and to Eleazar the priest, and to all the children of Israel, the captives, and the spoils, and the plunder, to the camp to Araboth Moab, which is at Jordan by Jericho.

13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the rulers of the synagogue went forth out of the camp to meet them.

14 And Moses was angry with the captains of the host, the heads of thousands and the heads of hundreds who came from the battle-array.

15 And Moses said to them, Why have ye saved every female alive?

16 For they were to the children of Israel by the word of Balaam of their revolting and despising the word of the Lord, because of Phogor; and there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord.