Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 11:25
Three 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian congregation to establish his apostolic credentials by cataloging the physical trials he endured.
The words — τρὶς (tris) quantifies three beatings with rods and three shipwrecks, ἅπαξ (hapax) marks a single stoning, and νυχθήμερον (nuchthēmeron) specifies a twenty-four-hour period adrift.
The thread — The stoning and rod-beating correspond to Acts 14:19 and Acts 16:22, while the broader pattern of travel dangers continues in 2 Corinthians 11:26.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers accept Paul’s authority is grounded in documented physical suffering rather than rhetorical skill.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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;
Cross-references
- Acts 14:19 Then 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.
- Acts 16:22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.
- Acts 16:33 At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.
- Acts 16:37 But Paul said to the officers, “They beat us publicly without a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”
- Acts 27:1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.
- Hebrews 11:37 They 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.
- Matthew 21:35 But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
- Acts 7:58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
- Acts 14:5 But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,
- Acts 22:24 the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.