In Greek, the words of Jesus to Thomas are in one sentence, which Good News Translation divides into two. The first sentence is rendered fairly literally in Good News Translation, and its structure is similar to that of most other English translations. However, Stop your doubting and believe is more literal “and do not be unbelieving but believing.” The Good News Translation rendering achieves two goals: (1) A more natural English style by using verbs rather than nouns or adjectives (note, for example, Jerusalem Bible “Doubt no longer but believe”). (2) The proper focus of Jesus’ words, since he is commanding Thomas to stop one activity and begin another. New English Bible achieves the same effect by translating “be unbelieving no longer, but believe”; New American Bible translates “do not persist in your unbelief, but believe”; Moffatt has “be no more unbelieving but believe.” By whatever means is natural in the receptor language, the translation should indicate that Jesus is calling on Thomas to give up his unbelief and to start believing.

It may be necessary to designate a more specific location than merely employing an adverb such as here, for example, “put your finger here on the scar in my hand” or “put your finger on my hand.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .