Scourge

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

A — 1: Φραγέλλιον (Strong'S #5416 — Noun Neuter — phragellion — frag-el'-le-on )

"a whip" (from Latin, flagellum), is used of the "scourge" of small cords which the Lord made and employed before cleansing the Temple,  John 2:15 . However He actually used it, the whip was in itself a sign of authority and judgment.

B — 1: Φραγελλόω (Strong'S #5417 — Verb — phragelloo — frag-el-lo'-o )

(akin to A: Latin, flagello; Eng., "flagellate"), is the word used in  Matthew 27:26;  Mark 15:15 , of the "scourging" endured by Christ and administered by the order of Pilate. Under the Roman method of "scourging," the person was stripped and tied in a bending posture to a pillar, or stretched on a frame. The "scourge" was made of leather thongs, weighted with sharp pieces of bone or lead, which tore the flesh of both the back and the breast (cp.  Psalm 22:17 ). Eusebius (Chron.) records his having witnessed the suffering of martyrs who died under this treatment.

 John 19:1  Matthew 20:19 Mark 10:34 Luke 18:33 Acts 22:25

B — 2: Μαστιγόω (Strong'S #3146 — Verb — mastigoo — mas-tig-o'-o )

akin to mastix (see below), is used (a) as mentioned under No. 1; (b) of Jewish "scourgings,"  Matthew 10:17;  23:34; (c) metaphorically, in  Hebrews 12:6 , of the "chastening" by the Lord administered in love to His spiritual sons.

 2—Corinthians 11:24

B — 3: Μαστίζω (Strong'S #3147 — Verb — mastizo — mas-tid'-zo )

akin to No. 2, occurs in  Acts 22:25 (see No. 1, above). In the Sept.,   Numbers 22:25 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Scourge.  Deuteronomy 25:1-3. An instrument of punishment in Egypt and Rome. The number of stripes was limited by Moses to forty; which the Jews, in later times, were so careful not to exceed, that they inflicted only thirty-nine.  Deuteronomy 25:3;  2 Corinthians 11:24. There were two ways of scourging; one with thongs or whips; the other with rods or twigs. Sometimes sharp iron points or sharp-cornered pieces of metal were fastened to the end of the thongs, to render the suffering still more extreme. The punishment was inflicted on the offender lying on the ground.  Exodus 21:20;  Leviticus 19:20;  Deuteronomy 22:18;  Proverbs 10:13;  Proverbs 13:24;  Proverbs 20:30;  Proverbs 23:13-14;  Psalms 89:32. In later times the offender was tied by his arms to a pillar, and his back laid bare to the Virgœ or rods of the lictor. To this degrading punishment no Roman citizen could be subjected.  Matthew 10:17;  Matthew 27:26;  John 2:15;  Acts 16:23;  Acts 22:25;  Acts 26:11;  Hebrews 11:35.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Or Whip. The punishment of scourging was very common among the Jews. Our Savior was subjected to this barbarous and ignominious torture, which was at times so sever as to end in death,  John 19:1 . Moses limits the number of stripes to forty, which might never be exceeded,  Deuteronomy 25:1-3 . The Jews afterwards, in order to avoid in any case exceeding forty, and thus breaking the law, were accustomed to give only thirty-nine stripes, or thirteen blows with a scourge of three thongs. There were two ways of giving the lash: one with thongs or whips made of rope-ends, or straps of leather sometimes armed with iron points; the other with rods or twigs. The offender was stripped from his shoulders to his middle, and tied by his arms to a low pillar, that he might lean forward, and the executioner the more easily strike his back; or, according to the modern custom in inflicting the bastinado, was made to lie down with his face to the ground,  Deuteronomy 25:2 .

Paul informs us,  2 Corinthians 11:24 , that at five different times he received thirty-nine stripes from the Jews; and in the next verse, shoes that correction with rods was different from that with a whip; for he says, "Thrice was I beaten with rods." The bastinado with rods was sometimes given on the back, at others on the soles of the feet.

King James Dictionary

Scourge n. skurj. L. corriggia, from corrigo, to straighten.

1. To whip a lash consisting of a strap or cord an instrument of punishment or discipline.

A scourge of small cords.  John 2 .

2. A punishment vindictive affliction.

Famine and plague are sent as scourges for amendment.

3. He or that which greatly afflicts, harasses or destroys particularly, any continued evil or calamity. Attila was called the scourge of God, for the miseries he inflicted in his conquests. Slavery is a terrible scourge. 4. A whip for a top.

SCOURGE, skurj.

1. To whip severely to lash.

It is lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman?

 Acts 22 .

2. To punish with severity to chastise to afflict for sins or faults, and with the purpose of correction.

He will scourge us for our iniquities, and will have mercy again.

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  Hebrews 12 .

3. To afflict greatly to harass, torment or injure.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

or WHIP. This punishment was very common among the Jews,  Deuteronomy 25:1-3 . There were two ways of giving the lash: one with thongs, or whips, made of ropes' ends, or straps of leather; the other with rods, or twigs. St. Paul informs us, that at five different times he received thirty-nine stripes from the Jews,  2 Corinthians 11:24 , namely, in their synagogues, and before their courts of judgment. For, according to the law, punishment by stripes was restricted to forty at one beating,  Deuteronomy 25:3 . But the whip, with which these stripes were given, consisting of three separate cords, and each stroke being accounted as three stripes, thirteen strokes made thirty-nine stripes, beyond which they never went. He adds, that he had been thrice beaten with rods, namely, by the Roman lictors, or beadles, at the command of the superior magistrates.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip.

(2): ( n.) Hence, a means of inflicting punishment, vengeance, or suffering; an infliction of affliction; a punishment.

(3): ( n.) To whip severely; to lash.

(4): ( n.) To punish with severity; to chastise; to afflict, as for sins or faults, and with the purpose of correction.

(5): ( n.) To harass or afflict severely.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 John 19:1  Luke 23:16 Deuteronomy 25:3

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(usually some form of שׁוּט , Shut, To Lash; שׁוֹט , Shot,  Job 5:21;  Job 9:23;  Isaiah 10:26;  Isaiah 28:18, a Whip, as elsewhere rendered; שׁיִט , shayit,  Isaiah 28:15; שֹׁטֵט , Shorert,  Joshua 23:13; but in Leveticius 19:20, בִּקֹּרֶת , Bikkoreth, Chastisement in general; Φραγέλλιον , the Lat. flagellum, or whip,  John 2:15; so the verb Φραγελλόω , Matthew 28:26;  Mark 15:15; Μαστίξ , a severe kind of Whip,  Acts 22:24;  Hebrews 11:36; tropically, "plague,"  Mark 3:10, etc.; so in a literal sense the verb Μαστιγόω ,  Matthew 10:17;  Matthew 20:19;  Matthew 23:34;  Mark 10:34;  Luke 18:33;  John 19:1;  Hebrews 12:6; or Μαστίζω ,  Acts 22:25). The punishment of scourging was very common among the Jews. Moses ordains ( Deuteronomy 25:1-3) that if there be a controversy between :men, and they come to judgment, then the judges may judge them; mad if the wicked man were found worthy to be beaten, the judge was to cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number of, but not exceeding forty, stripes. There were two ways of giving the lash — one with thongs or whips made of rope-ends or straps of leather, the other with rods or twigs. In later times the of- fender was stripped from his shoulders to his middle and tied by his arms to a low pillar, that he might lean forward and the executioner the more easily strike his back. Some maintain that they never gave more nor less than thirty-nine strokes, but that in greater faults they struck with proportionate violence. Others think that when the fault and circumstances required it, they might increase the number of blows. Paul informs us ( 2 Corinthians 11:24) that at five different times he received thirty-nine stripes from the Jews; which seems to imply that this was a fixed number, not to be exceeded. The apostle also clearly shows that correction with rods was different from that with a whip, for he Says, "Thrice was I beaten with rods." The rabbins affirm that punishment by the scourge was not ignominious, and that it could not be objected as a disgrace to those who had suffered it. They maintain, too, that no Israelite. not even the king or the high-priest, was exempt from this law. This must be understood, however, of the whipping inflicted in their synagogues, which was rather a legal and particular penalty than a public and shameful correction. Philo, speaking of the manner in Which Flaccus treated the Jews of Alexandria, says he made them suffer the punishment of the whip, which, he remarks, is not less insupportable to a free man than death itself. Our Saviour, speaking of the pains and ignominy of his passion, commonly puts his scourging in the second place ( Matthew 20:19;  Mark 10:34; Luke 28:32). The punishment of scourging was specially prescribed by the law in the case of a betrothed bondwoman guilty of unchastity, and perhaps in the case of both the guilty persons ( Leviticus 19:20). Women were subject to scourging in Egypt, as they still are by the law of the Koran for incontinence (Sale, Koran, ch. 4, note, and 24; Lane, M Odern Egypt, 1 , 147; Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt. abridg, 2:211). The instrument of punishment in ancient Egypt, as it is also in modern times generally in the East, was usually the stick, applied to the soles of the feet — bastinado (id. loc. cit.; Chardin, 6:114; Lane, Modern Egypt, 1:146). (See Bastinado).

A more severe scourge is possibly implied in the term "scorpions," whips armed with pointed halls of lead, the "horribile flagellum" of Horace, though it is more probably merely a vivid figure. Under the Roman method the culprit was stripped, stretched with cords or thongs on a frame (divaricatio), and beaten with rods. After the Porcian law (B.C. 300), Roman citizens were exempted from scourging, but slaves and foreigners were liable to be beaten, even to death. This infliction, as a method of extorting a confession, was not unusual among the Romans, and was sometimes practiced by the Jews themselves. The same punishment was also occasionally inflicted for ecclesiastical offences ( Matthew 10:17;  Acts 26:11), and sometimes as an instant mode of chastisement ( John 2:15). See Gesenius, Thesaur. P. 1062; Isidore, Orig. 5:27; Horace, 1 Sat. 2: 41; 3:119;  Proverbs 26:3;  Acts 16:22, and Grotius, Ad Loc. 22:24, 25;  1 Kings 12:11; Cicero,  1 Kings 12:3 ;  1 Kings 12:28-29; Pro Rub. 4; Liv. 10:9; Sallust, Cat. 51; and the monographs of Krumb-holz, De Serratore Fustibus Caeso (in the Bibl. Brem. 8:35 sq.); Sagittarius, De Flagellatione Christi (Jen. 1674); Strauch, De Ritu Apud Judaeos (Vi-teb. 1668); Hilpert, id. (Helmst. 1652); Seypel, De Ritu Flagellandi apud Romanos (Viteb. 1668); Schoff, De Flagellatione Apostolorum (Viteb. 1683). (See Punishment); (See Whip).