Deuteronomy 25:3

3 but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.

Deuteronomy 25:3 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
3 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.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
New Living Translation (NLT)
3 But never give more than forty lashes; more than forty lashes would publicly humiliate your neighbor.
The Message Bible (MSG)
3 but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.
American Standard Version (ASV)
3 Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed; lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
3 Forty lashes may be given, but no more. If an Israelite were given more than that, he would be publicly humiliated.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
3 He may be flogged with 40 lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
3 But the judge must not give the guilty man more than 40 strokes. If more than that are used, you will look down on your Israelite neighbor.

Deuteronomy 25:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 25:3

Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed
And that this number might not be exceeded, it is ordered by the Jewish canons that only thirty nine should be given; for it is asked F2,

``with how many stripes do they beat him? with forty, save one, as it is said, in number "forty" that is, in the number which is next to forty;''

this they make out by joining the last word of ( Deuteronomy 25:2 ) with the first of this; and that this was an ancient sense of the law, and custom upon it, appears by the execution of it on the Apostle Paul; who was not indulged, but suffered the extremity of it as it was then understood, (See Gill on 2 Corinthians 11:24); moreover, that they might not exceed this number, they used to make a scourge of three lashes, so that every strike they fetched with it was reckoned for three stripes, and thirteen of them made thirty nine; wherefore if they added another stroke, it would have exceeded the number of stripes by two:

lest [if] he should exceed, and beat him above these with many
stripes;
they might diminish them, if a man was weak, and not able to bear them; but they might not exceed them, if a man was as strong as Samson, as Maimonides F3 says:

then thy brother should seem vile unto thee;
as if he was a beast, and not a man, and much less a brother. The Targum of Jonathan is,

``lest he be in danger, and thy brother be vile;''

lest he be in danger of his life, and become vile, as a dead carcass; so the apostle calls dead bodies "vile bodies", ( Philippians 3:21 ) ; or in danger of being maimed, and becoming lame or deformed, and so be contemptible: and this punishment of beating with the Jews was not reckoned, according to their writers, reproachful, and as fixing a brand of infamy upon a person; but they were still reckoned brethren, and restored to their former dignities, whatsoever they possessed; so Maimonides F4 says,

``whoever commits a crime, and is beaten, he returns to his dignity, as it is said, "lest thy brother be vile in thine eyes"; when he is beaten, lo, he is thy brother; an high priest, that commits a crime, is beaten by three (i.e. a bench of three judges, by their order), as the rest of all the people, and he returns to his grandeur; but the head of the session (or court of judicature), that commits a crime, they beat him, but he does not return to his principality, nor even return to be as one of the rest of the sanhedrim; for they ascend in holiness, but do not descend.''

And yet Josephus represents it as a most infamous and scandalous punishment, as one would think indeed it should be; his words are F5, speaking of the laws concerning travellers being allowed to gather grapes, and pluck ears of corn as they passed;

``he that does contrary to these laws receives forty stripes, save one, with a public scourge; a free man undergoes this most filthy (or disgraceful) punishment, because for the sake of gain he reproaches his dignity.''


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Misn. Maccot, c. 3. sect. 10. Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 25. p. 522, 523.
F3 Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 17. sect. 1.
F4 Ibid. sect. 7, 8, 9.
F5 Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 21.

Deuteronomy 25:3 In-Context

1 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty.
2 If the guilty person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves,
3 but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes. If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.
4 Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Matthew 27:26; John 19:1; 2 Corinthians 11:24
  • 2. Jeremiah 20:2; Job 18:3
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.