2 Corinthians 11:23-25

11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times. 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. ¹  11:25 Three times I was beaten with a rod. ²  Once I received a stoning. ³  Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea.

Deuteronomy 25:3

25:3 The judge ⁴  may sentence him to forty blows, ⁵  but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite ⁶  with contempt.

Isaiah 53:5

53:5 He was wounded because of ⁷  our rebellious deeds,

crushed because of our sins;

he endured punishment that made us well; ⁸ 

because of his wounds we have been healed. ⁹ 

Acts 16:23

16:23 After they had beaten them severely, ¹⁰  they threw them into prison and commanded ¹¹  the jailer to guard them securely.

[11:24]  ¹ tn Grk “forty less one”; this was a standard sentence. “Lashes” is supplied to clarify for the modern reader what is meant.

[11:25]  ² sn Beaten with a rod refers to the Roman punishment of admonitio according to BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω. Acts 16:22 describes one of these occasions in Philippi; in this case it was administered by the city magistrates, who had wide powers in a military colony.

[11:25]  ³ sn Received a stoning. See Acts 14:19, where this incident is described.

[25:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.

[25:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”

[53:5]  ⁷ tn The preposition מִן (min) has a causal sense (translated “because of”) here and in the following clause.

[53:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “the punishment of our peace [was] on him.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is here a genitive of result, i.e., “punishment that resulted in our peace.”

[53:5]  ⁹ sn Continuing to utilize the imagery of physical illness, the group acknowledges that the servant’s willingness to carry their illnesses (v. 4) resulted in their being healed. Healing is a metaphor for forgiveness here.

[16:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Having inflicted many blows on them.” The participle ἐπιθέντες (epiqente") has been taken temporally. BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 1.a.β has “inflict blows upon someone” for this expression, but in this context it is simpler to translate in English as “they had beaten them severely.”

[16:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “commanding.” The participle παραγγείλαντες (parangeilante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.