הכתב והקבלה — ארבעים יכנו לא יסיף

Q — The Torah says 'ארבעים יכנו' — 'forty he shall strike him.' But Chazal's halacha is 39 lashes ('ארבעים חסר אחת,' Makkot 22a). How can the peshat literally say 40? Is Chazal contradicting the simple reading?

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah resolves the apparent gap with two lexical observations. (1) The verb 'יכנו' here is NOT from נ-כ-ה (to strike) but from נ-כ-י (to subtract, deduct) — the standard rabbinic usage 'מנכה לו מן הדמים' (Chullin 10:3), and Tanakh's 'אולי אוכל נכה בו' (Bamidbar 22:6), which Rashi renders 'אולי אוכל לחסר מהם מעט.' (2) 'ארבעים' here is *ordinal*, like 'ויהי בארבעים שנה' (= the 40th year) and 'היו נכונים לשלשת ימים' (= the *third* day). So 'ארבעים יכנו' literally means: *the fortieth [strike] he shall reduce/subtract* — he must omit the 40th. The peshat says 39 lashes, exactly matching Chazal. The supposed gap between text and tradition disappears when you read the verbs correctly.