2 Corinthians 11:25
in 2 Corinthians 11Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep;
KJV
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
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This verse in 2 Corinthians 11
Commentary
12 notes on this verseSecondly, he indicates the perils he endured from outsiders, namely, the Gentiles, saying: Three times I have been beaten with rods: "The magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods" (Ac. 16:22); "The tribune commanded him to be brought …
This site's exposition
the forty lashes minus one
on 2 Corinthians 11:24-25
Paul five times received the forty lashes minus one, the synagogue discipline of Deuteronomy 25:3, which Jewish practice stopped at thirty-nine against miscounting. These beatings appear nowhere in Acts, and he stayed within the community that inflicted them.
This site's exposition
Three times I was beaten with rods
Rods were a Roman punishment. John Gill and Albert Barnes note that Acts records only one such beating before this letter, at Philippi.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck." And what has this to do with the Gospel? Because he went forth on long journeys; and those by sea. "A night and a day I have been in the deep." Some say this means out on the open sea, others, swimming upon it, which is also the truer interpretation. There is nothing wonderful, at least, about the former, nor would he have placed it as greater than his shipwrecks.
Paul suffered the beating with rods at the hands of Gentiles. He was stoned by the Jews in a city of Lycaonia. Someone who sailed as much as he did would easily have been shipwrecked three times. He was adrift at sea on his journey …
The East has grown luminous with the saints, with them the West has become brilliant, the North is raised up by them, from them the South has learned. They have ascended to the firmament and opened it, they have gone down to the sea and …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Luke did not record for us everything that Paul endured, for you see that he omitted much of what is enumerated here; because he labored in his writing not for the glorification of himself.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thrice was I beaten with rods,.... Or "wands", by the Romans; for this was a Roman punishment, distinct from scourging with cords used by the Jews. There is mention made but of one time only that he was so beaten, elsewhere, and that is in Act 16:22 which was at Philippi; but that he was so many times beaten in this way, there is no room to doubt: once was I stoned.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
), in some deep dungeon or other, shut up as a prisoner. Thus he was all his days a constant confessor; perhaps scarcely a year of his life, after his conversion, passed without suffering some hardship or other for his religion; yet this was not all, for, wherever he went, he went in perils; he was exposed to perils of all sorts.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thrice was I beaten with rods - In the Acts of the Apostles there is mention made of his being beaten in this manner but once before the time when this Epistle was written. That occurred at Philippi; Act 16:22-23. But there is no reason to doubt that it was more frequently done. This was a frequent mode of punishment among the ancient nations, and as Paul was often persecuted, he would be naturally subjected to this shameful punishment. Once I was stoned - This was the usual mode of punishment among the Jews for blasphemy.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Probably in some of his voyages from Tarsus, where he stayed for some time after his conversion, and from which, as being a seafaring place, he was likely to make missionary voyages to adjoining places (Ac 9:30;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thrice was I beaten with rods - This was under the Roman government, as their lictors beat criminals in this way. We hear of the apostle’s being treated thus once, namely at Philippi, Act 16:22. See Section 9 of the Introduction. Once was I stoned - Namely, at Lystra, Act 14:19, etc. A night and a day I have been in the deep - To what this refers we cannot tell; it is generally supposed that in some shipwreck not on record the apostle had saved himself on a plank, and was a whole day and night on the sea, tossed about at the mercy of the waves. Others think that βυθος, the deep, signifies a dungeon of a terrible nature at Cyzicum, in the Propontis, into which Paul was cast as he passed from Troas. But this is not likely.
The words behind it
11 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| τρὶς | tris | Three times | G5151 → | 12 times |
| ἐρραβδίσθην, | errabdisthen | I was beaten with rods, | G4463 → | |
| ἅπαξ | hapax | once | G530 → | |
| ἐλιθάσθην, | elithasthen | I was stoned, | G3034 → | |
| τρὶς | tris | three times | G5151 → | 12 times |
| ἐναυάγησα, | enauagesa | I was shipwrecked, | G3489 → | |
| νυχθήμερον | nuchthemeron | a night and a day | G3574 → | |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῷ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| βυθῷ | butho | deep [sea] | G1037 → | |
| πεποίηκα· | pepoieka | I have passed; | G4160 → | 569 times |
τρὶςThree times
trisG5151 →12 times
ἐρραβδίσθην,I was beaten with rods,
errabdisthenG4463 →
ἅπαξonce
hapaxG530 →
ἐλιθάσθην,I was stoned,
elithasthenG3034 →
τρὶςthree times
trisG5151 →12 times
ἐναυάγησα,I was shipwrecked,
enauagesaG3489 →
νυχθήμερονa night and a day
nuchthemeronG3574 →
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῷthe
toG3588 →19766 times
βυθῷdeep [sea]
buthoG1037 →
πεποίηκα·I have passed;
pepoiekaG4160 →569 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 14:19Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 3:11
my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
- Acts 13:50–51
The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.
- Acts 14:5
But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,
- Acts 13:45
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.
- 2 Timothy 3:11
Through
Hebrews 11:37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 24:21
But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 26:23
They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.
- 1 Kings 19:10
“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am…
- 2 Chronicles 24:21
Through
Acts 16:33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 1:16
Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that I do not remember if I baptized anyone else.
- 1 Corinthians 1:16
Where this verse is studied
About 2 Corinthians
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Ephrem the Syrian, HYMNS ON PARADISE 6.22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on 2 Corinthians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 2 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Corinthians.