The first part of this verse is in the form of a parable: “The host serves the best wine first, and after the guests have drunk a lot, he serves the ordinary wine.”

Everyone else (New English Bible “everyone”; Jerusalem Bible “people generally”) is literally “every man,” while the guests (so also Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem; Goodspeed, Moffatt “people”) is “they” in Greek.

The best wine (so also New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible; New American Bible “the choice wine”) is rendered literally by most translators as “the good wine.” However, the context indicates that the contrast is not between good wine and poor wine, but between the best wine (that one has) and ordinary wine or cheaper wine (Jerusalem Bible “the cheaper sort”; Goodspeed “his poorer wine”; Moffatt “the poorer wine”; New American Bible “a lesser vintage”).

The verb rendered “drunk a lot” literally means “to become drunk” (see Zürcher Bibel, Luther, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée; note Bible de Jérusalem sont gais), but most translators seem to prefer the meaning Good News Translation has (New English Bible, Moffatt, Goodspeed; Revised Standard Version “have drunk freely”; Jerusalem Bible “have had plenty to drink”; New American Bible “have been drinking awhile”). It is not necessary to press the meaning “to become drunk” in this context, because the degree of intoxication is irrelevant. The important element is the contrast between the new wine and the old. Commentators generally agree that the point of the story is to mark the contrast between the new way of Jesus and the old way of Judaism, symbolized by the new wine and the old.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .