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JOHN · Trinity Bible Version

John 2

The full text of John 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.

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1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding, along with his disciples.

3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."

4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."

5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.

8 And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it.

9 When the master of the feast tasted the water that had become wine — not knowing where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew — he called the bridegroom

10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and the inferior when people have become drunk; you have kept the good wine until now."

11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples, and they remained there a few days.

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 In the temple he found those selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and the moneychangers at their tables.

15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, sheep and oxen alike; and he poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables.

16 And to those who sold the doves, he said, "Take these things away! Do not make my Father's house a house of trade."

17 His disciples remembered that it is written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

18 So the Jewish leaders responded, "What sign do you show us, since you do these things?"

19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up."

20 Then the Jewish leaders said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and you will raise it up in three days?"

21 But he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body.

22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people,

25 and because he had no need for anyone to testify about a person; for he himself knew what was in a person.

Translation notes (21)
  1. John 2:4a The Greek word gynai, translated as "Woman," is a respectful form of direct address, similar to "Madam" or "Lady" in English. Jesus uses the same word to Mary at the cross (John 19:26). While the English word "Woman" can sound curt, the Greek word carries a respectful tone. The Trinity Bible Version keeps "Woman" according to.
  2. John 2:4b The Greek phrase ti emoi kai soi, meaning "what does that have to do with us?", translates a Hebrew idiom (mah-li va-lakh). This phrase appears in Judges 11:12, 1 Kings 17:18, Mark 1:24, and elsewhere, and can range in tone from "why are you involving me?" (mild concern) to "what have we to do with each other?" (distancing). The Trinity Bible Version's rendering preserves both the dual reference (you and me) and the idiom's flexible tone.
  3. John 2:4c The Greek phrase hē hōra mou, "my hour," is a technical term in John's Gospel referring to the time of Jesus' glorification, encompassing his crucifixion and exaltation. This same phrase appears in John 7:30, 8:20, 12:23, 12:27, 13:1, and 17:1.
  4. John 2:5a The Greek word order ho ti an legē hymin, poiēsate means "whatever he tells you, do." This mirrors the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, in Genesis 41:55, where Pharaoh tells Egypt to obey Joseph: "whatever he says to you, do." Mary may be intentionally echoing the Joseph narrative, encouraging submission to the one who provides.
  5. John 2:6a The Greek phrase dyo ē treis metrētas means "two or three measures." One metrētēs is approximately 9-10 US gallons (about 40 liters). Therefore, six jars holding two or three measures each would contain 120-180 gallons (450-680 liters) of water. This large volume emphasizes that Jesus produced wedding-feast quantities, not just a small amount. The main text converts to gallons for modern readers, while this note preserves the Greek unit.
  6. John 2:8a The Greek word architriklinos literally means "chief of the three-couch dining room," referring to the Greco-Roman dining couch arrangement (triklinos). This person functioned as the head steward, responsible for the meal's order, wine selection, and toasts. The translation "Master of the feast" (in the main text) preserves the wedding-banquet formality, while "headwaiter" would be a more modern but less precise equivalent. This role has no exact modern equivalent, being closest to a combination of a wedding planner, sommelier, and master of ceremonies.
  7. John 2:10a The Greek word methysthōsin (from methyskō) means actual intoxication, not "drunk freely." The master of the feast observes that hosts at a wedding typically save the cheaper wine for later, when guests are drunk and won't notice. Translations like the NIV ("have had too much to drink") and ESV ("have drunk freely") soften this blunt observation.
  8. John 2:11a The Greek phrase archēn tōn sēmeiōn means "the beginning" or "the first of signs." In the Gospel of John, sēmeion is a specific term for a miracle that reveals Jesus' identity. John 4:54 confirms this structural intent by calling a later healing "the second sign."
  9. John 2:11b The Greek word ephanerōsen means "revealed" or "manifested." It comes from the same verb family (phaneroō) as in John 1:31 ("so that he might be revealed to Israel"). This wedding miracle is the first public revelation of Jesus' glory to his disciples.
  10. John 2:12a The Greek word adelphoi means "brothers." While its primary sense is "brother" or "male sibling," the Greek word adelphos can also refer to close relatives. Christian traditions debate whether this refers to Jesus' literal half-brothers (a common Protestant view), step-brothers from Joseph's prior marriage (an early Catholic and Orthodox tradition), or cousins (some medieval Catholic interpretation following Jerome).
  11. John 2:14a The Greek word hieron, used here, refers to the temple in its broad sense, including the outer courts where commerce was permitted. This is distinct from naos, which means "inner sanctuary" and is used by Jesus in verses 19-21. This distinction between hieron and naos is preserved throughout the chapter and is important for the theology in verse 21, where Jesus refers to his body as the sanctuary.
  12. John 2:15a The Greek word pantas ("all") is masculine plural and its exact meaning is unclear. It could mean (1) "all of them," referring to all the merchants, with the sheep and oxen swept along; (2) "all," referring to both people and animals together (as in the NIV's "both sheep and cattle"); or (3) a general reference to persons that also includes animals in the action. The Trinity Bible Version preserves this ambiguity, though the first reading is the most common scholarly view.
  13. John 2:15b The Greek word phragellion, a Latin loanword (flagellum), refers to a small whip made of cords. It was likely used for driving the animals, not for striking the merchants, which would have provoked the temple guard.
  14. John 2:16a Greek ἐμπόριον: 'marketplace, place of trade.' Root of English 'emporium.' John's version of the temple-cleansing is sharper than the Synoptic 'house of prayer / den of robbers' (Mark 11:17 / Matt 21:13 / Luke 19:46) — Jesus accuses the temple authorities of systemic commercialization, not just isolated thievery.
  15. John 2:17a This verse quotes Psalm 69:9 (Septuagint 68:10). The Hebrew text has the perfect tense akhalatni, meaning "has consumed me," but the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, has the future tense kataphagetai me, meaning "will consume me." John follows the Septuagint, and this future tense is theologically significant, pointing toward Jesus' eventual death, which is foreshadowed in verse 19's saying, "destroy this temple."
  16. John 2:18a The Greek phrase hoi Ioudaioi ("the Jewish leaders" in this context) is used by John sometimes for the Jerusalem religious authorities, as it is here when they challenge Jesus in the temple, and sometimes for the Jewish people more broadly. The context, where Jesus has just driven merchants out of the temple courts, indicates that here it refers to the religious establishment that controlled the temple economy.
  17. John 2:19a The Greek word naos refers to the inner sanctuary, the temple proper, including the Holy of Holies. This is distinct from hieron, which refers to the broader temple complex with its outer courts. John deliberately switches from hieron (verses 14-15) to naos here (and again in verses 20, 21). While the Jewish leaders hear Jesus refer to the building, verse 21 reveals that Jesus meant his body. This distinction in Greek words carries important theological meaning, which many translations lose by rendering both as "temple."
  18. John 2:20a The Greek word naos here continues to refer to the inner sanctuary, as in verse 19. The "46 years" refers to Herod's renovation of the Second Temple, which began around 19 BC and continued into the AD 60s (the temple was destroyed in AD 70). This detail places this scene around AD 27-28.
  19. John 2:21a John's narrator-aside: Jesus' 'destroy this sanctuary' (v.19) referred to his body, not to Herod's temple. The body-of-Christ-as-sanctuary theology runs throughout the NT (1 Cor 6:19; Eph 2:21; 1 Pet 2:5). The chapter's ἱερόν/ναός wordplay (vv.14-15: ἱερόν = courts; vv.19-21: ναός = sanctuary = body) is a deliberate Johannine architecture.
  20. John 2:24a This verse contains a Greek wordplay: in verse 23, the people episteusan eis to onoma autou ("believed in his name"), but here Jesus ouk episteuen hauton autois ("did not entrust himself to them"). The same Greek verb pisteuō means both "believe" and "entrust." English requires two different verbs to capture this single Greek word. The wordplay is sharp: the people believed in Jesus, but he did not trust them with what they had just seen.
  21. John 2:25a The Greek phrases tou anthrōpou and en tō anthrōpō use the word anthrōpos, which is gender-inclusive and means "human" or "person." The chapter ends with the abstract idea that Jesus knows what is in "the human," referring to human nature itself, not just individual people. The Trinity Bible Version uses "a person" for clarity, while this footnote preserves the Greek's slightly more abstract sense of "the human."
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