Status Updates From Daily Life in the Time of J...

(This is paraphrasing to shorten the quote) Jews stopped flogging people on the 39th lash for fear that the 40th lash might be fatal, since men sometimes died under all the blows. Jews whips were plain, with triple or quadruple lashes, and weren't as cruel as the Romans, which were loaded with lead or the knuckle-bones of sheep, and which took off the skin at every blow. Jesus was likely scourged with the Roman whip.

(This is paraphrasing to shorten it the quote) Jews stopped flogging people on the 39th lash for fear that the 40th lash might be fatal, since men sometimes died under all the blows. Jews whips were plain, with triple or quadruple lashes, and weren't as cruel as the Romans, which were loaded with lead or knuckle-bones of sheep, and which took off the skin at every blow. Jesus was likely scourged with the Roman whip.