4:46 Now he came again to Cana 1 in Galilee where he had made the water wine. 2 In 3 Capernaum 4 there was a certain royal official 5 whose son was sick.
1 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
2 sn See John 2:1-11.
3 tn Grk “And in.”
4 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-C3; Map3-B2.
5 tn Although βασιλικός (basiliko") has often been translated “nobleman” it is almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.
6 tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. 2:11 where the same construction occurs.