John 2 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The sign at Cana — water into wine 2:1–12

vv. 1–5 — the wine fails: mother and son

And on the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee,independent — τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ closes ch. 1's chain of days — a resurrection overtone often heard

and the mother of Jesus was there;independent — scene-setting imperfect — Mary, never named in John, already present

and Jesus also was invited to the wedding, and his disciples.independent — aorist against her imperfect — she was there, they were invited

And when the wine ran out,participial — genitive absolute — forward-leaning; the crisis before the verb

the mother of Jesus says to him:independent — historic present λέγει — the first of six framing the Cana dialogue

'They have no wine.'content — the laconic report — Οἶνον fronted; a need stated, a petition implied

And Jesus says to her:independent — historic present — the reply

'What is that to me and to you, woman?content — verbless Semitic idiom (Judg 11:12; cf. Mark 1:24) — distancing, not dismissal; γύναι respectful (19:26)

My hour has not yet come.'content — the first ὥρα-saying — the hour of glorification through death (7:30; 12:23; 13:1)

His mother says to the servants:independent — historic present — she answers his deflection by turning to the servants

'Whatever he tells you,relative — indefinite relative (ἄν + subjunctive) — forward-leaning on ποιήσατε; unconditional expectancy

do.'content — one aorist imperative — her whole speech; echoed of Joseph, Gen 41:55

vv. 6–8 — six jars filled to the brim

Now six stone water-jars were standing there for the purification of the Jews,independent — narrator's background — stone because stone contracts no impurity (m. Kelim 10:1); six, one short of fullness

each holding two or three measures.participial — distributive ἀνά — c. 39 L per metrêtês: some 450–680 litres in all, eschatological abundance (Amos 9:13)

Jesus says to them:independent — historic present — the first command

'Fill the jars with water.'content — aorist imperative + genitive of content — water is all he asks for

And they filled them up to the brim.independent — command answered verb for verb — ἕως ἄνω, no room left for addition

And he says to them:independent — historic present — the second command

'Draw some out nowcontent — νῦν — the unmarked moment of the miracle falls between filling and drawing

and take it to the master of the feast.'content — the steward — not the host — will pronounce the verdict

And they took it.independent — compliance in two words — the servants' silent obedience

vv. 9–10 — the steward's unwitting verdict

But when the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine,conditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd; no temporal key) — leans on φωνεῖ; perfect γεγενημένον: the change stands complete; still called 'the water'

and did not know where it was from,conditional — coordinate with ἐγεύσατο inside the ὡς-frame — πόθεν, John's hidden-origin motif (3:8; 8:14)

— though the servants who had drawn the water knew —independent — narrator's parenthesis, suspended before the main verb — the judge of quality is the last to know: Johannine irony

the master of the feast calls the bridegroomindependent — resumptive historic present — the sentence rights itself after the parenthesis

and says to him:independent — historic present — the verdict-frame

'Every man serves the good wine first,content — gnomic present — the universal custom stated as foil

and when they have drunk freely,conditional — indefinite temporal ὅταν + subjunctive (typed cnd) — leans forward on the elliptical apodosis

then the inferior;content — elliptical apodosis (sc. τίθησιν) — the cheaper wine once palates dull

you have kept the good wine until now.'content — emphatic σύ against πᾶς ἄνθρωπος; intensive perfect τετήρηκας — praise aimed at the wrong man

vv. 11–12 — the first sign sealed; down to Capernaum

This, the beginning of the signs, Jesus did at Cana of Galilee,independent — the narrator numbers it — ἀρχή τῶν σημείων, first of the series (cf. 4:54; 20:30)

and manifested his glory,independent — the prologue cashed out — ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ (1:14) now shown in act

and his disciples believed in him.independent — πιστεύω εἰς + accusative — John's committed-trust idiom; the sign's proper response

After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples,independent — μετὰ τοῦτο — the Johannine bridge-formula (3:22; 5:1); κατέβη, downhill from Cana to the lake

and there they stayed not many days.independent — the brief stay — the Passover of v. 13 already pulling south

The temple cleansed — destroy this temple, and in three days 2:13–22

vv. 13–17 — the whip, the tables, and the psalm remembered

And the Passover of the Jews was near,independent — the first of John's three Passovers (2:13; 6:4; 11:55) — the ministry's chronological spine

and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.independent — ἀνέβη — the pilgrimage idiom; John opens the ministry where the Synoptics close it

And he found in the temple those selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there,independent — ἱερόν, the precinct — oxen to doves span rich to poor (Lev 12:8); καθημένους, commerce settled in

And making a whip of cords,participial — preposed aorist participle — leans on ἐξέβαλεν; the whip is constructed: deliberate prophetic act, not eruption

he drove them all out of the temple,independent — ἐξέβαλεν — the expulsion verb; the first of three verbs of force

both the sheep and the oxen,phrase modifier — τε … καί apposition specifying πάντας — the animals herded out with their sellers

and he poured out the coins of the money-changersindependent — ἐξέχεεν — the second verb of force; κολλυβισταί, the same traders as v. 14's κερματισταί

and overturned the tables,independent — ἀνέστρεψεν — the third: the exchange-tables upended as enacted judgment

and to those selling the pigeons he said:independent — the dove-sellers get words, not the whip — caged birds cannot be driven

'Take these things away from here;content — aorist imperative — clear it out

stop making my Father's house a house of trade.'content — μή + present imperative: cease; τοῦ πατρός μου — the Gospel's first explicit filial claim; cf. Zech 14:21

His disciples rememberedindependent — the first ἐμνήσθησαν — remembering during the event; its twin (v. 22) waits for Easter

that it stands written:content — the periphrastic citation formula — γεγραμμένον ἐστίν

'Zeal for your house will consume me.'content — Ps 69:9 — John's future καταφάγεταί for the LXX aorist: the zeal will devour him at the passion

vv. 18–22 — the riddle of the ναός and the narrator's two keys

The Jews therefore answered and said to him:independent — the Semitic answered-and-said formula — the authorities demand credentials

'What sign do you show us,content — σημεῖον — they demand a sign to authorize the sign-worker; the irony of v. 11's word

seeing that you do these things?'cause — causal ὅτι — the grounds of the demand: such an act requires authorization

Jesus answered and said to them:independent — the reply-frame for the chapter's central riddle

'Destroy this temple,content — conditional imperative — 'if you destroy'; ναός the sanctuary proper, not ἱερόν; the saying that resurfaces at the trial (Mark 14:58)

and in three days I will raise it up.'content — the apodosis — ἐγερῶ, the double-entendre verb of buildings and of the dead; the three-day interval (Hos 6:2)

The Jews then said:independent — the misunderstanding — the Johannine pattern: riddle, literal reading, correction

'Forty-six years this temple has been under construction,content — Herod's project begun c. 19 BCE — forty-six years lands c. 27/28 CE, dating the scene

and you will raise it up in three days?'content — emphatic σύ — his own words (ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερ-) thrown back as a scoff

But he was speaking about the temple of his body.independent — narrator's explanation — the riddle decoded for the reader: τοῦ σώματος, genitive of apposition; the body is the true ναός (1:14)

When therefore he was raised from the dead,conditional — temporal ὅτε (typed cnd; no temporal key) — leans on ἐμνήσθησαν; ἠγέρθη, the divine passive answering ἐγερῶ

his disciples rememberedindependent — narrator's aside continues — the second remembering, post-resurrection (cf. 12:16)

that he had said this,content — the content of the anamnesis — the temple-body saying

and they believed the Scripture and the wordindependent — γραφή (the psalm of v. 17) and λόγος (the saying of v. 19) believed together — dative, trust in what was said

which Jesus had spoken.relative — the relative closes the episode on Jesus' own word

Many believe — but Jesus does not entrust himself 2:23–25

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, at the feast,conditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd; no temporal key) — leans on ἐπίστευσαν; the triple ἐν piles up the setting

many believed in his name,independent — πιστεύω εἰς τὸ ὄνομα — the formula of 1:12, about to be qualified

beholding his signsparticipial — causal participle — sign-generated faith, the kind 4:48 will diagnose

which he was doing.relative — iterative imperfect — unnarrated signs plural through the feast

But Jesus himself would not entrust himself to them,independent — the αὐτὸς δὲ Ἰησοῦς contrast — the same verb turned: they believed, he did not entrust (reflexive αὑτόν); durative imperfect

because he knew all people,cause — διά + articular infinitive — the first ground: comprehensive knowledge of persons

and because he had no needcause — coordinate ὅτι-ground beside the διά-phrase — no testimony required

that anyone should testify about a person;content — complementary ἵνα with χρείαν — μαρτυρέω, the Johannine witness-word, here declared unnecessary

for he himself knewcause — the γάρ-ground of the no-need — emphatic αὐτός; durative imperfect: he was always knowing

what was in a person.content — indirect question — the interior read without witnesses; Nicodemus (ch. 3) walks in on the next line

Analysis. John 2 is narrative in John's own key: the mainline runs down the left margin in purple aorists and imperfects, but the drumbeat inside the Cana story is the historic present λέγει — six times in ten verses (plus φωνεῖ in v. 9), each one a flush-left frame with blue speech hanging beneath it. The dialogue chain is the story: Mary's laconic Οἶνον οὐκ ἔχουσιν, Jesus' double deflection (the Semitic idiom τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί — distancing without disrespect, cf. Judg 11:12 — and the first sounding of the Johannine ὥρα, the hour of the cross), Mary's answer past his refusal to the servants (the forward-leaning indefinite relative Ὅ τι ἂν λέγῃ ὑμῖν before its imperative), the two command-and-compliance pairs at the jars, and the steward's unwitting verdict with its ὅταν-clause leaning on an elliptical apodosis (τότε τὸν ἐλάσσω, sc. τίθησιν). Verse 9 is the chapter's most tangled sentence and the layout leaves the tangle visible: three suspended lines — the ὡς-temporal clause, its coordinate ignorance clause, and the narrator's parenthesis that the servants knew — all lean forward on the resumptive φωνεῖ. The narrator then closes the sign in three flat aorists (v. 11): first of the signs, glory manifested (1:14 echoed), disciples believing — πιστεύω εἰς, John's committed-trust idiom. The temple action (vv. 13–22) stands at the START of the ministry, John's order against the Synoptics' passion week — the famous placement crux, here read as theological relocation, not a second incident. Its shape: the whip-making participle leans on ἐξέβαλεν; Ps 69:9 hangs two deep under ἐμνήσθησαν → γεγραμμένον, with John's future καταφάγεταί (LXX aorist κατέφαγεν) pointing the zeal forward to the passion; the destroy-this-temple riddle (ναός, the sanctuary proper, not ἱερόν the precinct; Λύσατε a conditional imperative) is met by the Judeans' forty-six-years misunderstanding, and then the narrator steps in twice — v. 21 decoding the ναός as τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, v. 22 jumping to the post-resurrection remembering that believed γραφή and λόγος together. The Jerusalem summary (vv. 23–25) turns on one verb used twice: many ἐπίστευσαν εἰς his name, but Jesus οὐκ ἐπίστευεν αὑτόν to them — sign-faith is not yet faith he will trust; the αὐτὸς δὲ Ἰησοῦς contrast heads the clause, and the grounds chain (διὰ τό + infinitive, the coordinate ὅτι, the γάρ of his knowledge) hangs beneath it, opening straight into Nicodemus.