Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 24:39:
Noongar: “See my hands and feet. Look! This is me, myself! Touch me, and you will know, because ghosts do not have flesh and bone, but you can see my body!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “See the scars on my hands [this word includes the arm and hand] and my feet. It is I! Touch me and make certain, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones like you see in Me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Look at my hands and my feet. It is really me. Touch me so that you know that I am not a ghost. For ghosts do not have a body. But I here, you see that I have a body.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Look here at my hands and my feet because it really is I! Touch me and you will know! Because a soul has no body; however, I — look at me, I have a body,’ he said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Look at my hands and my feet so that you will believe that it is truly I. Put-your-hands-on me so you will be satisfied. Because a ghost, it has no body and bones, and you are emphatically able to see that I have (them).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Here, look where the nails went here in my hands and feet. It’s I all right. Feel and scrutinize me well. For as for a spirit, it has no flesh and bones, but I myself have flesh and bones as you can see.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
idete tas cheiras mou kai tous podas mou ‘look at my hands and my feet.’ The repetition of possessive mou is emphatic and prepares for the next clause which expresses what will be the result of looking at Jesus’ hands and feet.
hoti egō eimi autos ‘for it is I myself,’ or, ‘that it is I myself,’ preferably the latter.
psēlaphēsate me kai idete ‘feel me and see.’ Implicitly me goes with idete also.
psēlaphaō ‘to touch’ (in order to investigate), ‘to feel.’
hoti pneuma sarka kai ostea ouk echei ‘for a ghost does not have flesh and bones.’ For sarx cf. on 3.6.
osteon ‘bone’ of the human body.
kathōs eme theōreite echonta ‘as you see that I have.’ eme is emphatic by form and position.
Translation:
That it is I myself, or as an asyndetic sentence, leaving the relationship with what precedes implicit, cf. e.g. ‘look at my hands …: it is I myself’ (cf. New English Bible); if that relationship has to be made explicit one may say something like, ‘look…; then you will realize that it is I myself.’
Handle me, or, ‘touch me,’ ‘feel me all over’; or, ‘pass/move your hands over me (or, over my body).’
And see, i.e. ‘and look at me.’
Flesh and bones, characteristic for a body, and as such incompatible with a disembodied spirit. The phrase seems to exist in many languages; it may even be the normal term for a person’s body (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), in some cases in reversed word order, ‘bone (and) meat/flesh’ (Marathi, similarly Balinese). In other languages one has to say ‘body (and) bones’ (Tzeltal, Tae’), or simply ‘body.’
As you see that I have, or better to bring out the contrast, ‘but I do have them (or, have flesh and bones), as you see.’
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
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