Matthew 27:26, John 19:1

With limited detail, Matthew records of Pontius Pilate -

"...when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified...." (New Testament Matthew 27:26)

John writes that -

"...Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe..." (New Testament John 19:1 - 2)

Of this scourging, we know -

"...the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
29 ¶ And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head." (New Testament Matthew 27:27 - 30)

Many years before, Isaiah witnessed this scourging wherein he prophesied -

"...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Old Testament Isaiah 53:5)

None of the gospel writers that I found described "the stripes" in relationship to the scourging. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote of this event -

“This brutal practice, a preliminary to crucifixion, consisted of stripping the victim of clothes, strapping him to a pillar or frame, and beating him with a scourge made of leather straps weighted with sharp pieces of lead and bone. It left the tortured sufferer bleeding, weak, and sometimes dead. Pilate tried in vain to create compassion for Jesus as a result of the scourging. Teaching the need to bear chastisement, Paul, looking back on the scene, wrote: ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’ (Heb. 12:6.)

While Pilate watches, his cohort of six hundred soldiers mock and deride the Son of God. The scarlet robe, the crown of thorns, the reed in our Lord’s hand, the mocking obeisance, the cynical hailing of him as King—all devil-inspired substitutes of the respect rightfully his—plus the foul spittle and the smiting blows, all paint a picture of gross human debasement. The Roman soldiers have partaken of the spirit of the Jewish mob.” (McConkie, DNTC, 1:807.)

Elder Talmage explained of Roman scourging -

"Scourging was a frightful preliminary to death on the cross. The instrument of punishment was a whip of many thongs, loaded with metal and edged with jagged pieces of bone. Instances are of record in which the condemned died under the lash and so escaped the horrors of living crucifixion. In accordance with the brutal customs of the time, Jesus, weak and bleeding from the fearful scourging He had undergone, was given over to the half-savage soldiers for their amusement. He was no ordinary victim, so the whole band came together in the Pretorium, or great hall of the palace, to take part in the diabolical sport. They stripped Jesus of His outer raiment, and placed upon Him a purple robe. Then with a sense of fiendish realism they platted a crown of thorns, and placed it about the Sufferer's brows; a reed was put into His right hand as a royal scepter; and, as they bowed in a mockery of homage, they saluted Him with: "Hail, King of the Jews!" Snatching away the reed or rod, they brutally smote Him with it upon the head, driving the cruel thorns into His quivering flesh; they slapped Him with their hands, and spat upon Him in vile and vicious abandonment." (The Trial and Condemnation in Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell also wrote -

"Scholars say He was likely scourged with a Roman flagellum, which would resemble a "cat-o'-nine-tails," with sharp, metallic objects at the end of each thong. If he assumed the usual posture for scourging, He would have been kneeling over before His scourger, thus the tensed muscles of the back would be more easily torn and shredded. He would have lost much blood in addition to what He lost earlier while bleeding at every pore in Gethsemane. Therefore, wrote these physicians, Jesus was in serious if not critical condition before Calvary." (That Ye May Believe, Neal A. Maxwell)

"Several years ago, Christian physicians who wrote in the Journal of American Medicine indicated they felt that, because of the loss of blood when he was scourged, Jesus would have been in serious if not critical condition before He ever carried a portion of His cross to Calvary. No wonder He needed help to carry it." (That Ye May Believe, Neal A. Maxwell)

A follow up teaching of Elder Maxwell describes the usual number of blows -

He was scourged, most likely with a Roman flagellum of several thongs; at the end of each were sharp objects designed to tear the flesh. His tensed back muscles would have been torn. If he was struck with the usual number of blows, 39, the first blows would have bruised and the last blows would have shredded His flesh. Physicians wrote that, medically speaking, Jesus would have been in serious, if not critical, medical condition because of the loss of blood; and, as we know by revelation, He had previously bled from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane (see William D. Edwards, Wesley J. Gabel, Floyd E. Hosmer, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 21 March 1986, 1458). (Neal A. Maxwell, “Enduring Well,” Liahona, Apr 1999, 10).

As we ponder just the single event of scourging said of the gospel writers, we gain a greater perspective as we ponder the words of Isaiah.