Deuteronomy 25:1 - 25:3
“If there is a dispute between men and they go to court for judgment, and the judges judge their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be struck, the judge shall then make him lie down and be struck in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. 3 He may strike him forty times but no more, lest he strike him with many more stripes than these and your brother be dishonored in your eyes.