39 Lashes the Maximum

This was brought up at Torah study and is also in today's parsha: Ki Tetzie

The maximum number of lashes given as punishment was 39... there is evidence that 40 lashes was considered a death sentence but 39 was not.

Researching this I even found a pirate's website that refers to 39 lashes as 'Moses' Law': Pirate Life / Punishment

It was also the punishment given to Jesus - and popularized by a song in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar!

Even the kid's cartoon: A Sponge Bob Reference points out the 39 lashes and the Biblical reference!

There is also reference on some Jewish sites to: beating and striking on the eve of Yom Kippur - 39 lashes that the penitents apply to themselves... This may be related to how we now beat our chest during the prayer of penitence on Yom Kippur as well.

The part in Deut: 25 says:

Flogging
25:1 A trial shall be an adversary proceeding where a verdict is handed down, acquitting the innocent and convicting the guilty.
25:2 If the guilty man has incurred the penalty of flogging, the judge shall make him lean over, and have him flogged with a fixed number of lashes for his crime.
25:3 Do not go beyond the limit and give him forty lashes. You may not give him a more severe flogging, striking him any more than this, since your brother will then be degraded in your presence.
25:4 Do not muzzle an ox when it is treading grain.

I hope to find out why it is followed by the part about the ox... while that on its own seems understandable, the connection is unclear.