And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
Parallel translations
- WEB Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive?
- BSB “Have you spared all the women?” he asked them.
- NKJV And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive?
- NASB And Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women?
- NLT “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses confronted the officers, asking why they had kept all the women alive.
Overview
Moses challenged the soldiers for sparing the very women who had led Israel into the sin at Peor. His question exposed the danger of leaving the corrupting influence intact. This reflects the consistent biblical principle that sin's snares must be removed, not preserved, among God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Sam 15:3Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
- Deut 2:34And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
- Jer 48:10Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
- Josh 8:25And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
- Josh 11:14And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any to breathe.
- Ps 137:8–9O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
- Deut 20:13And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
- Josh 10:40So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
- Josh 6:21And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
- Ezek 9:6Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
- Deut 20:16–18But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 31:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.