25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges(A) will decide the case,(B) acquitting(C) the innocent and condemning the guilty.(D) If the guilty person deserves to be beaten,(E) the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes.(F) If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.(G)

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Laws of Social Responsibility

25 “If there is a (A)dispute between men, and they come to [a]court, that the judges may judge them, and they (B)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man (C)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down (D)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. (E)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother (F)be humiliated in your sight.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit. the judgment

25 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.

Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

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