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The Gospels · 50 of 78

Water into wine

At a wedding in Cana of Galilee, when the wine ran out, Jesus turned six waterpots of water into wine, the first of his miracles.

Cana of Galilee · site debated1 min filmJohn 2:11
The wedding at Cana: servants pouring red wine from great stone waterpots, Jesus and his mother among the guests, the master of the feast tasting in surprise.

Press play: the paintings change with the story and the words come as the narrator reads them. The whole story is written out below.

The whole story

The mother of Jesus was at the wedding, and Jesus and his disciples were called to it too. When the wine ran out she told him, They have no wine, and told the servants, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2:5). Six waterpots of stone stood there for the washing, holding two or three firkins apiece.

At a lamplit wedding in Cana, Mary speaks quietly to a servant beside six great stone waterpots, Jesus seated beyond.

Jesus told the servants to fill them to the brim, then draw out and bear to the governor of the feast. Tasting the water made wine and not knowing whence it was, he called the bridegroom and said that every man sets out good wine first, “but thou hast kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10). And his disciples believed on him.

Servants fill six stone waterpots to the brim as Jesus stands beside them in the courtyard of the wedding house in Cana.

John calls it the beginning of miracles, a sign that showed forth his glory. At Kafr Kanna, churches stand over older remains, and many couples come to renew their wedding vows; at Khirbet Qana, excavations have found a cave honored by early Christian pilgrims, with pieces of stone jars, which some scholars think marks the true site.

The rocky hill of Khirbet Qana with its ancient ruins and a cave mouth, overlooking the green Beit Netofa valley.

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

John 2:11, KJV

Where it happened

Cana of Galilee, Kafr Kanna, near Nazareth (site debated).

Pilgrims visit Kafr Kanna, near Nazareth, where the mark stands; many archaeologists favor Khirbet Qana, about five miles to the northwest.

Every story stands at its place on the Worldwide Watch map: the Bible’s world, on the map.

More from the Gospels

Matthew to John

  1. Bethlehem · 2 minBorn in Bethlehem
  2. Bethlehem · 2 minThe star in the east
  3. Egypt: the land of Goshen · 2 minOut of Egypt
  4. Nazareth · 1 minThe boy of Nazareth
  5. Bethabara beyond Jordan · 2 minBaptized in the Jordan
  6. The Sea of Galilee · 1 minFishers of men
  7. The Sea of Galilee · 1 minThe sermon on the mount
  8. The Sea of Galilee · 1 minPeace, be still
  9. The country of the Gadarenes · 2 minMy name is Legion
  10. Mount Tabor · 2 minTransfigured on the mountain
  11. Jerusalem · 2 minGolgotha
  12. Jerusalem · 1 minHe is risen

Sources and editorial method

Research and editorial references used for this page include:

Every story is told from the King James Bible, and from the Book of Enoch in R. H. Charles’s translation (1917) where a story names it. Every quotation was checked word for word against those texts. Where a place is not known, the page says so. The paintings and the narration were made for the house.

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