Editing Flagellation (section)

===Judaism===
According to the [[Torah]] (Deuteronomy 25:1–3) and [[Rabbinic law]] lashes may be given for offenses that do not merit capital punishment, and may not exceed 40. However, in the absence of a [[Sanhedrin]], corporal punishment is not practiced in Jewish law. [[Halakha]] specifies the lashes must be given in sets of three, so the total number cannot exceed 39. Also, the person whipped is first judged whether they can withstand the punishment, if not, the number of whips is decreased. [[Halakha|Jewish law]] limited flagellation to forty strokes, and in practice delivered thirty-nine, so as to avoid any possibility of breaking this law due to a miscount.