Note 1 at Joh 2:1: Cana comes from a Hebrew word meaning "reediness" (Strong's Concordance). Cana is only mentioned four times in Scripture with all of those references being in John (Joh 2:1, 11; 4:46; and 21:2). Josephus, a Jewish historian, also wrote of Cana of Galilee (The Life of Josephus; Sections 16, 71). Joh 21:2 reveals that Cana of Galilee was the hometown of Nathanael. Cana is believed, by modern archaeologists, to be either Kafr Kanna (approximately four miles northeast of Nazareth) or Kenet-el-Jalil (approximately ten miles northeast of Nazareth).

Note 2 at Joh 2:1: Galilee comes from a Hebrew word meaning "a circle" (Strong's Concordance). Galilee was mentioned in Scripture as early as the days of Joshua (Jos 20:7 and 21:32) and referred to a district in northern Israel, specifically in the tribe of Naphtali. Many of the Canaanites were never driven out of this region by the Israelites (Jdg 1:30-33), thus the terms Galilee of the nations (Isa 9:1) and Galilee of the Gentiles (Mt 4:15). Galilee, according to Josephus (The Life of Josephus; Sections 13, 14, 37, 45), became the name used to refer to as many as 240 cities and villages that fielded an army of 100,000 men. Galilee was Jewish, but because of the high Gentile population, there developed a peculiar dialect that identified Peter as a Galilean (Mt 26:73 and Mr 14:70). Most of Jesus' apostles came from Galilee (Ac 2:7) in spite of the popular belief that no prophet was to come from there (Joh 7:41 and 52). Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, Nain, Cana, and Nazareth were all towns of Galilee frequented by our Lord.