complete verse (2 Corinthians 11:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 11:24:

  • Uma: “Five times I was punished by the Yahudi people, they beat me thirty-nine strokes.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Five times I was whipped by my fellow-Yahudi and each time I was whipped, thirty nine times the whip hit my body.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Five times the Jews beat me with thirty-nine stokes.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Five times my companions who are Jews whipped me with thirty nine (lashes).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Five times I received thirty nine lashes at the hands of the Jews.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning the Jews, five times they severely hurt me, applying thirty-nine lashes.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:24

The forty lashes less one: according to Deut 25.1-3, the maximum number of whip strokes that could be given a guilty person when punished by a Hebrew court was forty. In order that the number not surpass forty by accidental miscounting and the law be violated, tradition limited the maximum number to thirty-nine. These whippings were done with leather straps. Good News Translation and Revised English Bible say simply the “thirty-nine lashes.” Possible restructurings of this verse are as follows: “I received punishment with the whip at the hands of the Jews five different times. Each time they gave me thirty-nine strokes” or “Five times the Jews whipped me, using thirty-nine strokes each time.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 11:24

11:24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

On five occasions Jewish leaders whipped me forty times minus one.
-or-

⌊In addition,⌋ at five different times, the Jews ⌊punished⌋ me with thirty-nine/39 lashes with a whip.

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