20:30
Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:
30a
Lashes and wounds scour evil,
30b and beatings cleanse the inmost parts.
In Hebrew, there is no verb in 20:30b. The verb “cleanse” has been supplied by the Berean Standard Bible. It is implied by the parallelism that lashes and wounds scour evil ⌊from the inmost being⌋ . It is also implied that beatings cleanse the inmost parts ⌊of evil⌋ .
The overall meaning is that physical punishment has a beneficial, cleansing effect on a person’s character.
20:30a
Lashes and wounds: In Hebrew, this phrase is literally “wounds of a bruise.” This kind of construction indicates that one of the words describes and intensifies the meaning of the other. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
Blows that wound (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
A severe beating (Contemporary English Version)
scour evil: Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
purges the mind of evil (Revised English Bible)
-or-
will get rid of evil (New Century Version)
20:30b
and beatings cleanse the inmost parts: Some other ways to translate this clause are:
and whippings can change an evil heart (New Century Version)
-or-
Such beatings cleanse the innermost being. (God’s Word)
-or-
such discipline purifies the heart (New Living Translation (2004))
The word “such” in the last two examples (God’s Word and New Living Translation (2004)) clarifies that the two lines give one overall meaning. They do not refer to two kinds of punishment.
General Comment on 20:30a–b
In some languages, it may be more natural to combine the two parallel lines. For example:
A severe beating can knock all of the evil out of you! (Contemporary English Version)
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