Makkos 3:10-11

Makkos 3:10

How many lashes does an offender receive? 39 (literally “forty minus one”), as per Deuteronomy 25:2-3, “by number, forty,” which is understood to mean a number close to 40. Rabbi Yehuda says that one receives all 40 lashes. We will soon see that lashes were divided into three sets of 13, delivered in different places. So, according to Rabbi Yehuda, where does one receive the additional lash? Between the shoulders.

Makkos 3:11

We only estimate for the one sentenced to lashes a number that is divisible by three. If they estimated that the offender could withstand the full 40 lashes and he received some of them, then they revised their estimate and said that he could not withstand 40, he is exempt from receiving any more. If they estimated that he could withstand 18 lashes and then, after he received that number, they revised their estimate and said that he could withstand the full 40 lashes, he is exempt from receiving any more. If the offender violated two prohibitions and they estimate the total number he could withstand for both sets of lashes combined, he is lashed this amount and is exempt from receiving any more. If they calculated each set of lashes separately, he is lashed the first set, is given time to recover, and is then lashed the second set.