Deuteronomy 25:3

He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you.

Bible in Basic English

In The King James Version

Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

In Context

2And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime.

4Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it.

Read all of Deuteronomy 25

Cross References

Luke 15:30But when this your son came, who has been wasting your property with bad women, you put to death the fat young ox for him.

2 Corinthians 11:24Five times the Jews gave me forty blows but 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 →

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