Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 10:17

"But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in theirs synagogues they will scourge you;" — Matthew 10:17 (ASV)

To the councils — The plural shows that our Lord referred not to the Great Council, or Sanhedrin, at Jerusalem, but to the lesser councils connected with provincial synagogues that had the power to judge and punish persons accused of offenses against religion.

They will scourge you in their synagogues — The words imply the actual infliction of the punishment within the walls of the building. To us, this appears something like desecration, but there is no reason for thinking that it did so to the Jews. St. Paul’s language in Acts 22:19 and Acts 26:11 seems to place the fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. The stripes the Apostle speaks of in 2 Corinthians 11:24 were likely inflicted in this manner and in those places.