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Place

Cana of Galilee

signgalilee

Summary

The Galilean village where Jesus turned water into wine (the first sign) and, from there, healed the official's son at Capernaum (John 2:1-11; 4:46-54).

  • At a wedding in this Galilean village, Jesus turned water into wine, the first of the signs John records.
  • John calls it a sign, not a wonder for its own sake: it revealed Jesus's glory, and his disciples believed in him.
  • Jesus performed a second sign from Cana, healing a royal official's dying son at Capernaum with a word spoken at a distance.
  • Nathanael, one of the Twelve, came from Cana.
  • Where exactly Cana stood is disputed between two candidate sites.

On this page

In Scripture

Verses
4
Books
1
See it on Reference map of ancient Palestine→

Near Cana of Galilee

Straight-line distances, computed from the gazetteer coordinates.

Where it is

the country around it

Coordinates
32.7470° N, 35.3388° Efind it on the Atlas →
Region
Galilee
Kind of place
Town

1 place the record names with Cana of Galilee, the farthest 27 km away

27 kmSea of GalileeThe JordanNainNainJezreelJezreelMount GilboaMount GilboaCana of Galilee20 km · 12 miN
  1. 1Jesus returns to Cana; the official's dying sonJohn 4:46 · 27 kmSo once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.
  • Located: the gazetteer fixes one site
  • A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix
Each line joins Cana of Galilee to a place one of its verses names, and carries that verse. No line is headed, because none of these verses says which way anyone went. The lines are straight between two coordinates and are not roads. A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix. Sea of Galilee and the Jordan are drawn from Natural Earth's public-domain outlines. The Great Sea is a stylized outline drawn for orientation. Every mark sits at the coordinates the gazetteer records for it.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the coast, the hill country, the Jordan rift and the Dead Sea, with the towns of the biblical narrative marked.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the land from Dan to Beersheba: most of the historical books happen on this one sheet.Rand McNally reference map (1926), public domain.Open this plate full size in The Atlas →

Why Cana of Galilee matters

Cana was a small village in Galilee, and it would likely be forgotten if John had not chosen it as the setting for the first thing Jesus did that John calls a sign. At a wedding there, the wine ran out, an embarrassment for the host family in a culture built on hospitality. Jesus's mother told him, then told the servants to do whatever he said. Jesus had six large stone jars filled with water, meant for the Jewish rites of washing, and had it drawn out and taken to the man running the banquet. It had become wine, and better wine than what had been served first. John does not call this a miracle. He calls it a sign, the first of several through the Gospel, each one pointing past the act itself to who Jesus is. John says plainly that this sign revealed Jesus's glory, and that his disciples believed in him because of it. John brings Jesus back to Cana for a second sign. A royal official from Capernaum came begging Jesus to heal his dying son. Jesus did not go with him. He simply said, "Go, your son will live," and the official believed the word and left. On the way home his servants met him with news that the boy was alive, at the very hour Jesus had spoken. John counts this the second sign done after Jesus came from Judea into Galilee. Cana appears once more, briefly, at the end of the Gospel. Among the disciples gathered by the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection is Nathanael, and John names his hometown: Cana in Galilee.

What has been found

the evidence, and where it is disputed

Excavations at Khirbet Qana, one of the two candidate sites, were led by Douglas Edwards of the University of Puget Sound from 1998 to 2007. They found first-century Jewish remains at the site, including stone vessels of the kind used for Jewish purification, and a cave shrine bearing Greek inscriptions naming the wedding miracle. At Kefr Kenna, the traditional site, excavations beneath the Franciscan church found first-century dwellings and the remains of an earlier basilica. A Greek Orthodox church near Kefr Kenna displays two stone jars that local tradition holds to be the water jars of the miracle; this is presented here as a tradition, not an established finding.

The wedding at Cana, the first sign

John 2:1-11, in the order it happens

Read John 2:1-11, in the order it happens
  1. A wedding at CanaJohn 2:1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
  2. The wine runs outJohn 2:3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”
  3. "My hour has not yet come"John 2:4“Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
  4. "Do whatever He tells you"John 2:5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”
  5. The stone water jarsJohn 2:6Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.
  6. Taken to the master of the banquetJohn 2:9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
  7. "You have saved the fine wine until now"John 2:10and said, “Everyone serves the fine wine first, and then the cheap wine after the guests are drunk. But you have saved the fine wine until now!”
  8. The first sign, and the disciples believedJohn 2:11Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

What happened here, in order

in the order the canon tells it

  1. A wedding at CanaJohn 2:1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
  2. Water turned to wineJohn 2:9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
  3. The first sign, at Cana in GalileeJohn 2:11Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
  4. Jesus returns to Cana; the official's dying sonJohn 4:46So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.
  5. "Unless you see signs and wonders"John 4:48Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
  6. "Go, your son will live"John 4:50“Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at His word and departed.
  7. The father and his household believeJohn 4:53Then the father realized that this was the very hour in which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and all his household believed.
  8. The second signJohn 4:54This was now the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.
  9. Nathanael of Cana, named among the disciplesJohn 21:2Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.

Cana of Galilee in Scripture

4 verses name it, in 1 book

Open a book to read its mentions here. Text: Berean Standard Bible.

First namedJohn 2:1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,Last namedJohn 21:2Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.

Common questions

Why does John call this a "sign" instead of a "miracle"?

John uses the word sign for this event and for the others he records through the Gospel. A sign points past itself to who Jesus is. John says this one revealed Jesus's glory and led his disciples to believe in him, which is the purpose John gives every sign in this Gospel.

Where was Cana of Galilee?

Readers differ; the positions are named

The location is genuinely disputed. The traditional site, held since at least the Crusader period, is the village of Kefr Kenna northeast of Nazareth. The leading scholarly alternative is Khirbet Qana, a ruin further north that shows first-century Jewish occupation. Scripture does not settle which one it was, and this page names both without deciding between them.

Why did Jesus say "My hour has not yet come" and then act anyway?

John records Jesus using the phrase "my hour" several times through the Gospel for the time appointed for his death and glorification. At Cana he speaks it and still turns the water into wine, so the site reads this as Jesus's own sense of timing at work, not a refusal that his mother's request overturned.

What do the two Cana signs have in common?

Both happen at Jesus's own spoken word rather than any visible act at the point of need. In the second sign, Jesus is not even present with the boy who is healed, he simply speaks and the boy lives at that hour. John closes both accounts by numbering them as signs, first and second.

Who was Nathanael of Cana?

Nathanael is one of the disciples John names by his hometown, Cana in Galilee, in the list of those gathered by the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection. He is first brought to Jesus by Philip earlier in the Gospel.

Sources cited

Every source behind MannaFest →

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