Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes less one.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 11:24 Go To 2 Corinthians 11
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Why, save one? There was an ancient law that he who had received more than the forty should be held disgraced among them. Lest then the vehemence and impetuosity of the executioner by inflicting more than the number should cause a man to be disgraced, they decreed that they should be inflicted, save one, that even if the executioner should exceed, he might not overpass the forty, but remaining within the prescribed number might not bring degradation on him that was scourged.
