After greeting the disciples, he showed them his hands and his side. According to Luke 24.40, Jesus showed the disciples his hands and his feet. However, John is more interested in the wound in Jesus’ side than in the wounds in his feet, as indicated by the specific mention of the piercing of Jesus’ side in his account of the crucifixion (see 19.34). In some cases it may be necessary to stipulate specifically what Jesus showed in connection with his hands and his side, for example, “he showed them the wounds in his hands and in his side.”

Were filled with joy (so also New English Bible and Jerusalem Bible) is translated in various ways, but the meaning in all translations is the same. For example, Moffatt and New American Bible have “rejoiced,” while Phillips translates “were overjoyed.” In some languages the equivalent of were filled with joy is simply “were very, very happy.”

Here John begins to use the Lord of the resurrected Jesus. The phrase at seeing the Lord indicates the cause for the disciples’ joy. Therefore, it may be expressed most effectively in some languages “because the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy” or “… they were very happy.”

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 .