The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.
The blueness of a wound (severe chastisement, of which blueness of a wound is the sign) cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly. The "evil" lies deep in "the inward parts of the belly;" therefore "stripes" are needed, which are so severe as to produce livid marks of wounds (cf. Proverbs 27:6). To be "chastened of the Lord" saves one from being "condemned with the world" (1 Corinthians 11:32). Manasseh's Babylonian "fetters" were the instruments of saving him from the "everlasting chains" (Jude 1:6; 2 Chronicles 33:11-13). Pain is often the remedy of more fatal pains.