Deuteronomy 25:3
He may give him forty stripes. He shall not exceed, lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem debased to thee.
A Conservative Version
In The King James Version
In Context
4Thou shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out [the grain].
Cross References
Luke 15:30But when this thy son came, who has devoured thy living with harlots, thou killed for him the fatted calf.
2 Corinthians 11:24From the Jews five times I received forty save one.
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:2-5
Stripes Not to Exceed Forty. ( b. c. 1451.) 1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. 3 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then… Read the whole commentary →