Proverbs 20:30

30. The blueness of a wound Meaning, that punishment or correction, even to such degree as to produce”blueness,” or marks, is likely to produce reformation. It is generally agreed that the first part of this verse refers to stripes caused by punishment. Some, as Stuart, interpret it of such strokes going down deep into the body. It is very evident that these old saints had no qualms of conscience about corporal punishment.

Stripes… inward parts חדרי בשׂן , ( hhadhre baten,) chambers of the body, is used in other places by metonymy for the “inner man,” the soul, the spirit, the mind. So, possibly, the term is used here; and if so, would imply that corporal punishment alone was not an effectual remedy, but inward smitings those of the conscience and soul penitence, heart-wounds, and aches, which, under the divine blessing and influence, would lead to a new and better life. For last clause, compare Proverbs 20:27. Miller insists on this rendering: “The welts of a wound cleanse, though as an evil; so do stripes the very chambers of the belly.” The welts the tumid and purple confines of a wound are an evil; that is, painful, etc.; but they purge away the sore: so stripes cleanse the inward parts, etc. The Septuagint reads this verse thus: “Bruises and contusions befall bad men; and plagues shall come into the inward parts of their belly.”