The general sense of this verse seems to be that physical punishment is good for getting rid of moral evil. This is expressed by Contemporary English Version as “A severe beating can knock the evil out of you.” The Hebrew of the verse is difficult, but as it stands it consists of two parallel lines that repeat the same thought in slightly different terms.

“Blows that wound cleanse away evil”: “Blows that wound” represents two Hebrew words that are very similar in meaning. As a single expression this may also be rendered as “wounding strokes” (New Jerusalem Bible) or more colloquially “a good beating” (Revised English Bible). As two parallel terms we may say “blows and wounds” (New International Version) or something like “beating and whipping.” The sense of the term rendered “cleanse away” is “scour” or “polish,” which is to rub or scrape away dirt from the surface of something. It is used figuratively in this line for cleaning away what is “evil” from the life of a person; in the light of the expression “innermost parts” in the next line, Revised English Bible says here “purges the mind of evil.” It is possible to take “evil” as “evil person,” in which case the sense is something like “will scour the wicked man” (Scott).

“Strokes make clean the innermost parts”: “Strokes” renders another Hebrew term that means almost the same as “Blows” and “wound” in the first line. There is actually no verb in the Hebrew, and most translations understand the verb “cleanse” from line 1 as the verb for this line. Some, however, suggest that we should understand this line as indicating the extent of the effect of the harsh treatment on a person; that is, it reaches right into “the innermost parts”. So New Jerusalem Bible expresses it, “blows have an effect on the inmost self.” “The innermost parts” is the same expression as in verse 27.

In some languages “Blows” and “strokes” must be expressed as actions, and so it is not possible to speak of them “making clean” a person. Hence translators may have to restructure the whole verse; two examples of such restructuring are: “If you give a beating to someone who has done wrong, that will make him turn from his bad behavior and become good” and “If you beat a person with a stick or whip him with a whip, that will straighten out his bad behavior and make him be a good person.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .