Chapter 2

Two days afterwards, there was a wedding-feast at Cana, in Galilee; and Jesus’ mother was there.

Jesus himself, and his disciples, had also been invited to the wedding.

Here the supply of wine failed; whereupon Jesus’ mother said to him, They have no wine left.

Jesus answered her, Nay, woman, why dost thou trouble me with that? My time has not come yet.

And his mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you.

There were six water-pots standing there, as the Jewish custom of ceremonial washing demanded; they were of stone, and held two or three firkins apiece.

And when Jesus said, Fill the water-pots with water, they filled these up to the brim.

Then he said to them, Now draw, and give a draught to the master of the feast. So they gave it to him;

and the master of the feast tasted this water, which had now been turned into wine. He did not know whence it came; only the servants who had drawn the water knew that. The master of the feast, then, called to the bridegroom,

and said to him, It is ever the good wine that men set out first, and the worse kind only when all have drunk deep; thou hast kept the good wine till now.

So, in Cana of Galilee, Jesus began his miracles, and made known the glory that was his, so that his disciples learned to believe in him.

After this he went down to Capharnaum with his mother, his brethren, and his disciples, not staying there many days.

And now the paschal feast which the Jews keep was drawing near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

And in the temple there he found the merchants selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting at their trade.

So he made a kind of whip out of cords, and drove them all, with their sheep and oxen, out of the temple, spilling the bankers’ coins and overthrowing their tables;

and he said to the pigeon-sellers, Take these away, do not turn my Father’s house into a place of barter.

And his disciples remembered how it is written, I am consumed with jealousy for the honour of thy house.

Then the Jews answered him, What sign canst thou shew us as thy warrant for doing this?

Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.

At which the Jews said, This temple took forty-six years to build; wilt thou raise it up in three days?

But the temple he was speaking of was his own body;

and when he had risen from the dead his disciples remembered his saying this, and learned to believe in the scriptures, and in the words Jesus had spoken.

At this paschal season, while he was in Jerusalem for the feast, there were many who came to believe in his name, upon seeing the miracles which he did.

But Jesus would not give them his confidence; he had knowledge of them all,

and did not need assurances about any man, because he could read men’s hearts.