A literal translation of this verse might read “and Jesus was invited to the wedding and his disciples.” In Semitic Greek it was not uncommon to have a singular subject followed by a singular verb to which a plural subject would be linked by “and.” The nearest natural equivalent in English is to join the singular and plural subjects by “and” and to use a plural verb. It is awkward to maintain the form of the Greek, as some translations do; the restructuring of New English Bible and Jerusalem Bible (but not of Bible de Jérusalem) is similar to that of Good News Translation.

A literal translation of Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding may actually be misleading. It may suggest that Jesus and his disciples were invited but did not go to the wedding, if one translates more or less literally the pluperfect tense “had been invited.” In some languages such a translation suggests an action which had taken place but may not have had a positive result. Therefore, it may be necessary to say “Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding, and they were there,” or “Jesus and his disciples had also accepted the invitation to the wedding”

Jesus’ followers are called disciples (see 1.35) in all the Gospels. In Matthew the term is used to refer strictly to the Twelve, but the other Gospel writers use the term in a wider sense to include other followers of Jesus. Acts extends it even further, so that it designates all Christian believers. In John the Twelve are mentioned only in Chapter 6 (verses 67,70,71).

In this particular context the term used to render disciples should probably suggest a relatively small group. In fact, there is no evidence from the Gospel of John or elsewhere that all the twelve apostles had been chosen by this time. It is possible to use such a phrase as “those whom Jesus was teaching” or “those who were learning from Jesus.” In some translations “close followers,” an expression which would designate a relatively small group of associates, may be used, but one should not use such an expression as “those who believed in him”—a phrase which can often be used for “disciples” in Acts.

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 .