What Does Luke 24:40 Mean?
And saying this, he pointed out to them his hands and his feet.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.THE KEY
The words become visible in the body: recognition happens through the hands and feet he shows.
THE MEANING
Speech gives way to a visible body: he shows his hands and feet. The verse locates recognition in embodied presence, where what is said can be seen in the one who speaks.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that words alone make a person recognizable; here, recognition is joined to the body.
THE ROOT
ἐπέδειξεν
epedeixen
GROWS FROM
δεικ-
deik-
to show, point out, make visible
“pointed out” in this verse is epedeixen. The Greek word belongs to the same family as words for demonstration and example: what is shown is put forward for inspection. The verse moves from spoken words to visible evidence, making identity legible through the body.
ALSO GROWS
apodeixis: A showing that establishes or demonstrates something.
ἀπόδειξις
It makes clear that this word family can carry the sense of making a claim visible for recognition.
deigma: Something displayed as a sample or example.
δεῖγμα
Like the hands and feet here, it is something made visible so it can be seen and considered.
THE PATTERN
A spoken message becomes recognizable when it is joined to something visible.
And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people.And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad, when they perceived the Lord.That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have perceived with our eyes, which we have gazed upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the word of life.THE THREAD
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad, when they perceived the Lord.Luke and John use forms of δείκνυμι (deiknymi, “to show”). In both verses, the visible hands anchor recognition in the embodied presence before them.
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