Proverbs 20:30

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. ). To be "chastened of the Lord" saves one from being "condemned with the world" (). Manasseh's Babylonian "fetters" were the instruments of saving him from the "everlasting chains" (; 2 Chronicles 33:11). Pain is often the remedy of more fatal pains.