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.
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;
- BSB 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.
- 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;
- 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 14:19But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
- Acts 16:37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
- Heb 11:37They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
- Acts 27:1–44When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.
- Acts 16:22–23The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
- Acts 16:33He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.
- Matt 21:35The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
- Acts 7:58–59They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
- Acts 14:5When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
- Acts 22:24the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that.
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.