Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
Parallel translations
- WEB Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.
- KJV Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
- BSB Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
- NKJV From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
- NLT Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.
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
Paul recounts receiving the Jewish synagogue punishment of thirty-nine lashes on five separate occasions. It matters as concrete evidence of the relentless persecution he endured for the gospel.
Overview
The 'forty stripes minus one' was the standard limit under Jewish law (Deuteronomy 25:3), reduced by one to avoid accidentally exceeding it. That Paul submitted to synagogue discipline five times shows his persistent witness to his own people despite repeated rejection. These sufferings authenticate his apostleship in a way his boastful rivals could not match.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Mark 13:9But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them.
- Deut 25:2–3It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.
- Matt 10:17But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.
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Christ at the center
In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.
How 2 Corinthians 11:24 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
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