Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
Parallel translations
- WEB Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
- KJV Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
- NKJV Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
- NASB Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea.
- NLT Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.
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 lists Roman beatings, a stoning, three shipwrecks, and a day adrift at sea among his trials. It matters because it shows the extraordinary physical cost of his missionary obedience.
Overview
Beating with rods was a Roman punishment (cf. Acts 16:22), and the stoning recalls Lystra (Acts 14:19), where Paul was left for dead. Many of these ordeals are not recorded in Acts, reminding us that Scripture preserves only a portion of what Paul endured. His willingness to face death repeatedly flows from union with the crucified and risen Christ, whose life is shown through such weakness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Acts 14:19Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.
- Acts 16:37But Paul said to the officers, “They beat us publicly without a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”
- Heb 11:37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
- Acts 27:1–44When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.
- Acts 16:22–23The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.
- Acts 16:33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.
- Matt 21:35But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
- Acts 7:58–59They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
- Acts 14:5But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,
- Acts 22:24the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:25 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.