The author of the book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this gospel.

[1] The chapter and verse divisions did not appear in the original texts, they form part of the paratext of the Bible.

Since the early 13th century, most copies and editions of the Bible present all but the shortest of these books with divisions into chapters.

or "You and I see things differently"[13] whereas in the Weymouth New Testament, Jesus' words are "Leave the matter in my hands".

The story can be understood as John's fulfillments of prophecies in the Old Testament, such as in Amos 9:13–14[20] and Genesis 49:10–11[21] about the abundance of wine that there will be in the time of the messiah.

This begins a series of stories about Jesus' role as the new way that last until his second miracle or sign, the healing of the official's son in John 4.

He explodes: So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

[36] Alfred Plummer notes that Jesus acts directly with the sheep and cattle, driving them out, but as the doves could not be driven out, he gives instructions that they be removed.

[12] Bengel suggests that the power of Jesus' whip lay in the terror it inspired: it is not said "that He inflicted a single blow upon the men".

[17] H. W. Watkins comments that:It is worth remembering that on the eve of the Passover the head of every family carefully collected all the leaven in the house, and there was a general cleansing.

[37]John says that Jesus' disciples remembered the words of Psalm 69:9, "zeal for your house will consume me",[38] perhaps a bit of wordplay interposing the ideas of "'demanding all my attention' and 'leading to my destruction'".

[4] John then says that during the Passover Feast Jesus performed miraculous signs, but does not list them, that caused people to believe in him, but that he would "not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men".

Perhaps John included this statement to show Jesus possesses a knowledge of people's hearts and minds, an attribute of God.

Some scholars suggest that this shows that Jesus fought with the money changers twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of his ministry.

[24] The chapter ends with a brief section which the New King James Version subtitles "The Discerner of Hearts" (John 2:23–25).

Swedish-based commentator René Kieffer suggested that the evangelist "probably includes what [had] happened in Cana" among these signs.